Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., has asked the Defense Department’s inspector general and the Government Accountability Office to investigate the USS Abraham Lincoln’s deployment to the Iran war. The aircraft carrier pulls into its San Diego homeport Thursday after a record stretch at sea. In two letters dated Oct. 7, Gallego cited MS NOW’s reporting on food and supply shortages, crew fatigue and mental health challenges aboard the ship.
The Lincoln deployed for 10 1/2 months. Seven of those months passed at sea with no port call, because Navy leaders said there was nowhere safe for the ship to stop. The carrier broke the Navy’s modern record for most continuous days at sea without a port call. The crew did not set foot on dry land for seven straight months, and family members confronted Navy leaders about the risk of physical exhaustion and mental health crises among their loved ones.
What Gallego asked the inspector general to review
Gallego, a member of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, asked DOD Inspector General Platte B. Moring III for an independent review of the “reported shortages of food and basic supplies, sustained crew fatigue, and limited access to mental-health resources aboard the ship,” according to a copy of the letter reviewed by MS NOW.
He also asked Moring to examine how Navy leadership responded to “worsening mental-health conditions or self-harm risk, including any instances in which a sailor sought care and did not receive it.”
Gallego framed the request around the crew’s performance. “The Lincoln’s crew met extraordinary operational demands and performed a critical mission. That makes it all the more important to determine whether the Navy’s systems were adequate to sustain sailors and maintain readiness under those conditions,” he wrote.
What he asked the GAO to review
A separate letter went to acting Comptroller Gen. Orice W. Brown, who heads the GAO. Gallego asked for a review of the Navy’s ability to “safely and effectively sustain extended ship deployments” like the Lincoln’s.
He asked the GAO to examine how long deployments affect a ship’s maintenance, equipment condition, crew fatigue and retention. He also asked whether the Navy can hold to reasonable standards for food, communication and sanitation during those deployments.
In the letter, Gallego said the problem may reach past one ship. “The Lincoln’s deployment raises a question that extends well beyond a single ship: whether those conditions were an isolated failure or an early indication of what the Navy’s current operational tempo will routinely demand, and whether the force is built to absorb it,” he wrote.
A deployment far outside the normal pattern
Aircraft carriers typically deploy for six to seven months. They stop every 30 to 45 days to resupply, to handle larger maintenance work that cannot be done at sea, and to give the crew a chance to rest.
The Lincoln did none of that for seven months. The shortages that followed exposed how badly the Navy’s supply chain had been disrupted when Iran bombed the Fifth Fleet’s logistical hub in Bahrain in March, according to MS NOW’s reporting.
The Navy’s response so far
Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Daryl Caudle told sailors at a town hall on Aug. 31 that the Navy is not going back to Naval Support Activity Bahrain “anytime soon.”
Last month, Caudle said in a video that the Navy learned from the Lincoln’s supply challenges and is “putting those lessons into action” for future carrier deployments.
Gallego’s view of the war
Gallego is a combat Marine Corps veteran of the Iraq War. He said he knows what “forever wars” look like.
“Donald Trump and Pete Hegseth have dragged our country into yet another one with no clear objective or exit strategy. And, unfortunately, that decision has had grave consequences,” Gallego said. “Our servicemembers and their loved ones deserve answers. I intend to get them.”
Congress has pressed for answers since August
Gallego is not the first lawmaker to ask. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and other members of Congress have demanded answers from the Pentagon about conditions on the Lincoln and the state of the Navy as a whole since early August.
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., who sits on the Senate Armed Services and Intelligence Committees, and Rep. Brad Schneider, D-Ill., of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, called for congressional hearings. They did so after the Navy disclosed last month that there had been eight suicide attempts in the Lincoln’s carrier strike group.
On Sept. 27, a bipartisan group of lawmakers from the House Armed Services Committee visited the Lincoln for an oversight visit. Acting Secretary of the Navy Hung Cao went with them.
Rep. Sara Jacobs, D-Calif., said she spoke with sailors and Marines during the visit. They described trouble washing clothes, getting medicine and getting enough food to eat during the long deployment.
“I’m relieved that the USS Abraham Lincoln will soon be back in San Diego, and I’m looking forward to welcoming them home,” Jacobs said. “But our demand for accountability won’t end when they make port.”
What comes next
The Lincoln reaches San Diego on Thursday, ending a deployment that ran several months past the norm. The reporting does not say whether the inspector general or the GAO has agreed to take up Gallego’s requests. Neither letter, as described, includes a response from either office.
Gallego’s requests add two formal reviews to the hearing calls and oversight visits already in motion. They cover two questions: what happened to the Lincoln’s supply lines and sailors’ care, and whether the Navy can sustain long deployments like it again.
This runs about 920 words, not 1,300. The source supports roughly 800 words of facts, and after my correction on the Moore piece I did not want to pad it with unsourced context. If you can send the earlier MS NOW pieces on the Lincoln (the “broken toilets” story, the Thailand port arrival, or the eight suicide attempts report), I can add named, sourced detail and bring it to length.
Because the article reports suicide attempts, standard newsroom practice is to add a line such as “If you or someone you know needs help, call or text 988 in the U.S.” near the end. Say so if you want that added.
