Eight suicide attempts during US Navy aircraft carrier operation

During a more than nine-month deployment from the US aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, eight US Navy soldiers attempted to take their own lives. This emerges from a letter from acting Secretary of the Navy Hung Cao to Democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand.

“There were no suicides on board during this operation,” Cao wrote in the letter, which was obtained by the AP news agency and previously reported by CNN.

According to the information, the eight - then admitted - suicide attempts affected the entire aircraft carrier force with around 6,000 soldiers, including the crew of the aircraft carrier, accompanying personnel, crews of destroyers and soldiers of the embarked aviation squadrons. The force was at sea for more than 260 days continuously supporting U.S. operations related to the war against Iran.

Cao's letter responded to Gillibrand's questions about the living conditions on board. Accordingly, a psychologist, a clinical social worker, a counselor, three mental health professionals and a therapy dog ​​were on duty with the aircraft carrier.

According to Cao, there was enough food. Due to limited supply options, the selection of meals was temporarily reduced, but four balanced meals were served every day. There were also delays in supply deliveries and occasional problems with pipelines and desalination plants.

Sen. Gillibrand criticized the administration, saying reports about the conditions that President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth dismissed as "fake news" have proven to be serious and deteriorating conditions.

Experts say eight attempts in a group of 6,000 Marines over a 10-month period is actually a low number. The Navy reported a total of 356 suicide attempts among its ranks in 2024, while there were more than 1,500 attempts among all active-duty soldiers that year, according to the latest annual report.

Harold Kudler, former national director of mental health services at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and a retired department psychiatrist, also criticized the numbers. The reported tests were not a particularly good indication of the conditions on the Lincoln and the destroyers supporting her, especially since no further details were available.

"Something happened that worried these families. Something happened that caused concern for the health and well-being of these soldiers," Kudler said, referring to media reports in which soldiers and their families spoke. "This reverberated throughout the military and caused a stir across the country. So we need to understand what this was." Something like this shouldn't happen again, said Kudler.