Lawmakers and military families are raising concerns about conditions on board the USS Lincoln. The carrier, key to the administration's war with Iran, has been at sea for over 250 days.

Transcript

JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:

The USS Abraham Lincoln has been at sea for far longer than the usual deployment - more than eight months. The aircraft carrier has played a key part in the Trump administration's war with Iran, but now lawmakers and families are raising concerns about poor conditions on board. And a warning, this story mentions suicide. Steve Walsh from WHRO is in Norfolk, Virginia. Hi there.

STEVE WALSH, BYLINE: Hi, Juana.

SUMMERS: So, Steve, tell us, what is the latest with the USS Lincoln?

WALSH: So we know that the carrier has been out to sea for a long time. After leaving San Diego in November, USS Lincoln has had one, brief port visit. Since then, it has been positioned in the Middle East supporting the war effort in Iran. It has now been out to sea for over 250 days. That's a grueling pace for a carrier with more than 5,000 sailors on board.

Lawmakers are now raising concerns about conditions on board the Lincoln, responding to MS Now and other reporting that sailors have attempted to jump from the carrier. Senator Richard Blumenthal and other Democrats are demanding the Pentagon investigate shortages of food, poor sanitation and lack of mental health care on the ship. NPR has not been able to independently confirm reports of sailors jumping overboard. And the Navy has said that there has been no increase in suicidal ideation or attempts on board the carrier, and that mental health professionals are on board.

SUMMERS: Steve, I remember talking to you about problems with another long deployment that you were covering, and that was on the USS Ford earlier this year. And it had, among other things, just horrible sanitation problems during its 11 months at sea. How is the situation with the Lincoln similar?

WALSH: So, yeah, the problems with sanitation, but being out at sea takes a toll on sailors. Normally, they would come into port after a month or so to resupply and let sailors spend time off the ship. The war with Iran has made that impossible. Shortly after the war began in late February, Iran attacked the Navy's main hub in the region, in Bahrain. This has meant the Navy has not been able to use its traditional supply hub in the region. Instead, they've had to scramble to find ways to keep ships stocked.

I recently talked with the admiral in charge of Navy Sealift Command. Rear Adm. Benjamin Nicholson was at a ceremony honoring two ships who brought supplies to ships like the Lincoln at the start of the war. It was the first time that logistic ships have ever received one of the Navy's highest awards.

BENJAMIN NICHOLSON: For many, many years, in a lot of conflicts that we've had, there's always been logistics hub that have been relatively close by that we could call on to get the parts and get the food and get the fuel that we needed. In this conflict, those logistics hubs were not available to us for a number of different reasons. So we had to adapt our strategy of how we would resupply the fleet.

SUMMERS: Adapting that strategy, like the admiral's talking about, how's that going?

WALSH: Well, those supply lines will remain long for the foreseeable future for all U.S. ships in the region. Mail delivery and care packages will arrive slowly. After a few weeks at sea, the first things to run out of are the so-called freshies, which are things like fresh fruit and vegetables. At a minimum, that means sailors are living off of more frozen food and dry goods. Morale starts to suffer. Most sailors live their lives below deck. They may not see the sun for weeks on a carrier.

The Associated Press has been reporting that the Navy will move the carrier USS Washington into the region to replace USS Lincoln. The Washington is based in Japan. The Navy official tells me that the Washington is still in the Pacific right now. But I do know that - I've talked to Navy planners about the possibility of swapping the two carriers, and that's been a possibility even before the latest round of damning public reports.

SUMMERS: Steve Walsh from WHRO, thanks.

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