{"id":3961,"date":"2026-08-20T21:05:40","date_gmt":"2026-08-20T21:05:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\/?p=3961"},"modified":"2026-08-20T21:05:40","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T21:05:40","slug":"us-aircraft-carrier-arrives-in-middle-east-relieving-long-deployed-uss-lincoln","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\/?p=3961","title":{"rendered":"US aircraft carrier arrives in Middle East, relieving long-deployed USS Lincoln"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Getting your Trinity Audio player ready…<\/strong><\/div>\n
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By BEN FINLEY and KONSTANTIN TOROPIN<\/strong><\/p>\n

WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 The Asia-based USS George Washington aircraft carrier is now operating in the Middle East, the U.S. military said Thursday, relieving a long-deployed carrier following reports of mental health challenges and supply shortages aboard while it was supporting the Iran war.<\/p>\n

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U.S. Central Command, which oversees military operations in the Middle East, said on social media that the carrier arrived in the region Wednesday. It was not clear when the USS Abraham Lincoln would arrive back in the U.S. or whether it would make a port stop along the way, but the journey takes just over a month.<\/p>\n

The Washington arrived as concerns have grown about the Lincoln\u2019s lengthy deployment, which has included a record-setting uninterrupted time at sea of more than 250 days, and about reports of crew stress and poor mental health, as well as supply shortages, including food and hygiene products.<\/p>\n

Several Democratic lawmakers have pressed the Department of Defense for accountability over conditions aboard the Lincoln, which Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has said were \u201ccompletely misrepresented.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hegseth spoke with the Lincoln\u2019s crew last week, and Adm. Brad Cooper, head of U.S. Central Command, visited this past weekend. In an editorial published Sunday by The Wall Street Journal, Cooper said the crew \u201cdelivered a performance for the ages, and now you are going home.\u201d<\/p>\n

Extended deployments of carriers wear on service members who are away from home for long periods and increase strain on the ship and its equipment. While renewed hostilities between the U.S. and Iran calmed in recent weeks, the Navy is enforcing a reimposed blockade on Iranian ports in the Strait of Hormuz, and the Trump administration has offered no clarity on how it intends to wind down the war.<\/p>\n

Hegseth has said the U.S. can maintain the blockade \u201cindefinitely.\u201d<\/p>\n

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President Donald Trump this week downplayed reports about conditions on the Lincoln, which left its homeport in San Diego in November and arrived in the Middle East in January. Trump called the nearly nine months at sea that the sailors endured a \u201cgood period of time\u201d but added that \u201cover the years, we\u2019ve had them out there much longer.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Trump told reporters Monday that he spoke with a retired admiral over the weekend who recounted being on ships for \u201cmuch longer.\u201d Trump said the admiral assured him that the Lincoln is \u201cbeautifully maintained and beautifully taken care of.\u201d Trump did not name the admiral.<\/p>\n

In a statement Sunday after visiting the Lincoln, Cooper praised the carrier\u2019s leaders for prioritizing mental health and resilience.<\/p>\n

\u201cHistory will record this deployment as one of the most operationally intense and consequential of the modern era,\u201d Cooper said.<\/p>\n

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The Washington joins the USS George H.W. Bush in the Middle East, leaving Asia without an American carrier strike group at a time when China has shown more signs of aggression.<\/p>\n

The lack of a U.S. carrier in the Pacific may be short-lived if the Navy deploys another in the next couple of months. But it shows how the open-ended operations with Iran are running some American sailors ragged, analysts say, while the Trump administration further retreats from the Asia-Pacific region and focuses on the Western Hemisphere.<\/p>\n

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The U.S. military says the Asia-based USS George Washington aircraft carrier is now operating in the Middle East. The ship is relieving the long-deployed USS Abraham Lincoln following reports of mental health challenges and supply shortages aboard while it was supporting the Iran war.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3960,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3961","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national-news","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nUS aircraft carrier arrives in Middle East, relieving long-deployed USS Lincoln - Colorado Springs Moverss<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/coloradospringsmoverss.com\/?p=3961\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"US aircraft carrier arrives in Middle East, relieving long-deployed USS Lincoln - Colorado Springs Moverss\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The U.S. military says the Asia-based USS George Washington aircraft carrier is now operating in the Middle East. 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