The Navy has confirmed eight suicide attempts across the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group since the start of its deployment, according to a response sent to Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand. The figure covers more than the carrier's crew, and the Navy's letter does not establish a cause for the attempts.
Gillibrand's Sept. 24 statement describing the Navy response says Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao confirmed the count in a Sept. 22 letter. Cao wrote that it includes personnel from the carrier, its air wing, strike-group and destroyer-squadron staffs, escorting destroyers and embarked aviation squadrons.
Gillibrand and 14 other lawmakers had written to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in August seeking more information after reports and family complaints about conditions aboard the Lincoln. The senator said the response reinforced her concerns about sailors' welfare and criticized the administration's earlier dismissal of those complaints.
The Navy response cited by Gillibrand describes one sailor who received immediate medical care after an attempt in March and later returned to homeport. The release provides no comparable status information for the other seven attempts.
The eight-attempt total is for the wider strike group, not eight separate events confirmed aboard the Lincoln itself. The statement does not say how many people were involved, whether any attempts occurred after March or what the Navy concluded about shipboard conditions.
Gillibrand serves on the Senate Armed Services Committee. Her office linked the Navy's response and called for greater attention to service members' well-being, but did not announce a new hearing, investigation or policy change in the statement.
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