US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is facing accusations that he concealed how badly Iranian strikes crippled the main US resupply base in the Middle East, a claim that comes amid growing worry about conditions faced by sailors aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln. MS Now’s senior national security reporter David Rohde made the accusation during a segment about President Trump dismissing reports of low morale and mental health struggles among crew members on the carrier, which has been at sea for an unusually long stretch. Rohde said supply problems facing the Lincoln trace back to Hegseth keeping quiet about the extent of the damage Iran caused to the main US resupply base in the Gulf.
Rohde said Hegseth failed to disclose this across multiple press conferences, calling it part of a broader pattern of mishandling the war.
The base in question, Naval Support Activity Bahrain, was hit by Iranian strikes at the start of the conflict, according to the New York Times. The Wall Street Journal had already reported in June, using satellite imagery, that the strikes damaged command headquarters, other buildings, and two satellite communications terminals at the site.
Why the Lincoln’s crew is under strain
The USS Abraham Lincoln serves as a floating base for major aerial combat operations in the Arabian Sea and plays a central role in the US war against Iran, which began on February 28. The carrier has now spent more than 260 straight days at sea without a single port call, a stretch that has drawn sharp criticism from Democratic lawmakers worried about its toll on the roughly 5,000 personnel aboard.
With the Bahrain base damaged, the Pentagon shifted to a UK-controlled base on Diego Garcia as its new supply hub, according to the New York Times. That base sits around 2,200 miles from where two carrier strike groups have been operating in the Gulf of Oman. The switch also cost the crew their liberty port, the place where sailors would normally get to leave the ship for time on land.
Families speak out
Senators Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and Ruben Gallego of Arizona are among the Democratic critics who have pushed back against how the administration has handled the Lincoln’s deployment. Relatives of crew members have also raised concerns about supply shortages, grueling work schedules, and the risk of self-harm on board.
Earlier this month, the wife of a sailor aboard the Lincoln told MS Now she feared for her husband after he jumped overboard on August 3. He was rescued roughly an hour later after being in the water. Speaking anonymously, she said she felt the situation was handled poorly, adding that she was not informed and that officials did not want her to know what had happened.
Trump has denied that the deployment has gone on too long. He said last week that the Lincoln would be swapped out for a similar carrier, the Japan-based USS George Washington, which has reportedly been sailing west through the Strait of Malacca in Indonesian waters.