Bacon says Congress "should have oversight" amid concerns about USS Lincoln
GOP Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska said Congress should conduct oversight following concerns about conditions aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, which is being replaced after a nearly nine-month deployment.
August 16, 2026 / 1:07 PM EDT / CBS News
"We should have oversight," Bacon said on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan."
The USS George Washington aircraft carrier is headed to the Middle East to replace the Lincoln, a U.S. official told CBS News on Friday, after some families have voiced concerns in recent weeks about conditions on the ship — like supply shortages and mental health issues. Media reports have quoted some family members who say they've heard of multiple sailors who have thought about jumping overboard amid the extended deployment.
Acting Secretary of the Navy Hung Cao said in a post on X on Friday that the Lincoln "will return home soon as part of a planned rotation." Cao added that a "small number of mental health cases were treated with no loss of life."
In a letter to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Thursday, Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal called for the Navy to account for conditions aboard the carrier, which he said "has been deployed more than 250 days" without coming ashore "in over 200 days, setting a record for consecutive days at sea."