2026-08-16T12:00:29.175Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/08/16/politics/uss-lincoln-iran-war-life-aboard
7月7日，我在阿曼的杜姆港登上亚伯拉罕·林肯号航母，当时美伊战争正再次升级。我刚在这艘航空母舰上完成第一次巡视，就得知伊朗在霍尔木兹海峡袭击了第三艘油轮，而负责执行五角大楼战争战略的美国中央司令部正准备做出回应。登舰不到一小时，我就在飞行甲板完成了第一次现场报道。“你的时机真是恰到好处，”一名官员在消息里写道。
让我印象深刻的是，这场自2月爆发以来已造成18名美军士兵死亡的危机，在舰上几乎无人在意。次日是“停飞日”，让船员们在短暂靠港休整后得以喘息。他们当时关注的新闻是：美军从其他海军舰艇对伊朗发动打击，美伊之间的临时和平协议破裂，双方言辞愈发激烈。早上6点在食堂（被称为“餐厅甲板”）吃早餐时，高级 enlisted 船员们异常平静。尽管舰上有Wi-Fi，大多数人都没在关注新闻。他们已经见识过太多次这样的循环——局势升级，随后缓和——以至于这次只觉得是常规操作，而非值得警惕的危机。
我撰写这篇报道，是因为近期许多关于林肯号的报道都聚焦于恶劣的生活条件和心理健康困境——这些情况真实存在，也确实值得关注。我并没有走遍这艘船的每一个角落，也没有和大约5000名船员中的所有人交谈，尽管海军方面大多允许我们在陪同下自由行动，可以随意采访任何船员。我们也竭尽所能，在有限的时间里尽可能多地了解情况。
在林肯号上待了三天，与数十名水兵——包括军官和普通士兵——交谈后，我看到了比单一叙事更复杂的现实：真实的困苦与真实的坚韧并存，有时体现在同一个人身上，有时甚至在同一句话里。
CNN近期报道称，林肯号可能打破美国航母离家部署时间最长的纪录，这次近九个月的部署引发了家属的担忧，同时有报道称舰上出现自杀意念和水兵被从水中救起的事件。
https://www.cnn.com/
指挥官解读长期部署对军人的心理影响
0:53 • 来源：CNN
美国国防部长皮特·赫格斯称，舰上的情况“被完全歪曲了”，而唐纳德·特朗普总统上周则表示，这次部署“还远远不够久”。这种说法在我接触的许多水兵中并不受欢迎，而重要的是要理解，现实远比一句简短的口号复杂得多。
早餐时，我们桌摆着新鲜的水果和蔬菜——这是靠港后新增的情况。战争初期，伊朗的袭击破坏了通过巴林的供应链，迫使船员们经历了一段配给时期，至今许多人仍清晰地记得那段日子，随后的数月里新鲜食物极度匮乏。几名水兵告诉我，有一段时间他们的餐食只有金枪鱼拌面条或者玉米热狗。不少人说自己体重明显下降。
到我登舰时，情况已经有所缓解。食物充足，尽管算不上美味：每天供应17000到18000份餐食，大多来自冷冻库存，每14天轮换一次菜单，水兵们对此烂熟于心（比如“披萨日”“汉堡日”），还会举办冰淇淋社交等提振士气的活动。年轻的普通水兵仍要每次排队等餐长达一小时——这种辛苦很快就会消磨人的精力。许多人告诉我，他们正梦想着回到家乡后的第一顿饭：中餐、Chipotle墨西哥快餐，或是母亲亲手做的肉酱意面。
一名水兵在我离舰后给我发消息，直白地说道：“食物的可食用性略有提升，如果是几个月前问我，我会说很多人都因为伙食问题在掉体重。”
这不是五星级好评，但也不像有些报道所暗示的那样是一场危机——这只是一条供应链断裂后部分恢复的情况，由身处这艘长期处于恶劣环境的舰艇上的人们如实描述。
“林肯号正处于高度 contested 的作战环境中，中东的传统补给枢纽因军事行动遭到破坏，”海军在一份声明中表示。“作为回应，领导层优先保障关键物资：首先是食物，然后是卫生用品，再是邮件。”
我和摄影师、制片人住在访客区，头顶上战机起飞的轰鸣声日夜不绝。我使用的军官共用浴室有热水，但需要好好打扫一番。舰上其他区域的报道则提到马桶堵塞，有些情况下根本无法使用。
之前提到的那名水兵在消息中补充道：“舰上有黑霉已经有一段时间了。想想看，你只是在排队等饭，或是刚洗完澡走出来，天花板就会滴下霉斑落到你的脸、肩膀、手臂或头上，这太离谱了。”
我并没有发现大范围的黑霉，但在舰上不同区域时，不止一次感觉到有水滴从天花板落下。我无法了解普通水兵宿舍和浴室的情况，这一点至关重要。航空母舰上确实存在真实的阶级差距，军官餐厅和军官区域的设施与普通水兵共用宿舍和“床位”的条件截然不同。食物供应方面也是如此。
海军官员在一份声明中表示，舰上的霉菌问题已得到处理：“林肯号的淋浴间不存在长期霉菌问题，”声明称。“水兵们会定期清洁自己的浴室和淋浴间，必要时更换浴帘。如果发现霉菌或污垢，会迅速处理。”
我问CNN摄影记者约翰·鸟越（John Torigoe）对我们短暂停留期间的环境有何看法。他说：“我用的是随时可用的热水——非常棒，没有时间限制。没错，我看到了霉菌和老旧的管道。这在预料之中吗？当然，毕竟在海上待了这么久。但这些水兵的专业素养让我印象深刻。”
“两件事都是真的，”鸟越说。“这艘船在海上待了数月后确实磨损严重。所有和他们相处过的人几乎都对这些水兵赞叹不已。”他补充说，自己洗澡很快，因为知道热水是靠核动力产生的。
我们的制片人米克·克里弗（Mick Krever）说，曾出现过一些很快就解决的管道问题，我们都觉得，即使是在这么大的一艘船上，有时也会让人感到幽闭恐惧。通道很狭窄，我惊讶地得知，年轻的普通水兵通常不会去飞行甲板，除非是执行任务需要。
一名水兵在短信中告诉我：“很难解释九个多月的部署带来的孤独感。当然你可以结交新朋友，和同事们建立更紧密的联系，或是习惯身边的人，但你还是会感到孤独。我能想到的最贴切的类比就是，想象你被锁在一个小房间里，虽然有足够的空间走动，但与此同时，你完全没有隐私可言。”
士气与不确定性
近一半的船员年龄在25岁以下，许多人是第一次或第二次执行部署任务。一些人形容士气低落，工作重复，每天工作12到16小时，几乎没有休息时间——好几个人称之为“土拨鼠日”（意指日复一日的重复生活）。另一些人则表示，这次部署比上一次要好，仅仅因为他们能用上Wi-Fi。还有人谈到了战友情谊，称船员们就像第二个家庭。
反复被提及的不是食物、物资短缺、霉菌或是邮件迟缓——而是部署期限遥遥无期。另一名水兵在发给我的消息中这样解释道：
领导层告诉我，他们之前曾让水兵们抱有虚假希望，后来特意避免设定明确的返回日期。这种谨慎可以理解——但根据他们自己的说法，这也是舰上最大的焦虑来源。
一名水兵体现了长期军事冲突中常见的那种“咬牙坚持”的态度。
退役海军上将詹姆斯·斯塔夫里迪斯曾在2013年退役前负责阿富汗、利比亚和巴尔干地区的军事行动，他说明确任务期限有助于提升士气。
“在伊拉克和阿富汗的长期战争中……我们的陆军士兵被部署到战斗中，地面作战时长12个月，但他们有明确的结束目标，也知道目标即将到来，”他告诉CNN。“不会有这种感觉：战争没完没了，就像西西弗斯推着巨石上山。”
其他军事专家表示，Wi-Fi的普及让水兵们能够实时向国内反馈抱怨，这加强了问责机制。
水兵们确实在实时使用社交媒体，直接向赫格斯和我这样的记者表达不满。
我离舰后，据目击者称，一名水兵穿着救生衣跳海，随后脱掉了救生衣和靴子，最终被直升机救起。《军事时报》根据家属的说法报道了其他试图跳海的事件。人员落水事件并非林肯号独有，心理健康问题的成因多种多样——但这起事件几乎可以肯定是：一名处于严重困境中的水兵。
海军方面称，舰上不存在大范围的心理健康危机。这在技术层面或许属实，但却未能抓住问题的核心。在这个拥有5000人的浮动城市里，不同岗位、年龄和军衔的人经历差异巨大——但显然有一些水兵正在苦苦挣扎。
一名海军官员告诉我，自杀意念通常在登舰后不久就会上升，随后随着水兵们适应环境而下降。该官员表示，林肯号上也出现了这种趋势。然而，我不禁好奇，有多少人因为害怕受到报复或感到羞耻而不去寻求帮助。
例如，我看到了一名水兵发给另一名水兵的消息，内容是关于他被发现躲在房间里哭泣、称自己想自杀后，不得不寻求自杀咨询。
海军确实在舰上配备了多种我亲眼所见的心理健康资源，包括心理咨询师、一只名叫“法瑟船长”的治疗犬，以及每晚举行祈祷仪式的牧师。
我们生活在一个故事被快速简化的时代：要么这艘船就是一场灾难，要么报道言过其实。两者都不准确。生活条件曾糟糕，后来有所改善。对一些人来说士气低落，对另一些人来说则尚可，其驱动因素更少是霉菌，而是长久以来不知道何时才能回家。
如今随着乔治·华盛顿号航母前来换防，我得知舰上出现了一种谨慎的希望和乐观情绪。
我采访过的一位父亲说，他的孩子对舰上的情况反馈不错，但他也有尖锐的问题：为什么换防来得这么慢，军事资源是如何被使用的？这一代水兵是否为这样的部署做好了充分准备？为什么没有更好地规划供应链中断的应对措施？为什么换防花了这么长时间？
无可争议的是这些水兵所做出的牺牲。他们理应得到这些问题的答案。他们也不应被简化为单一的叙事。
编者注： 如果你或你认识的人正受自杀念头或心理健康问题困扰，请寻求帮助。在美国：拨打或发送短信至988，即自杀与危机生命线。全球范围内：国际预防自杀协会和国际友人协会提供全球各地危机中心的联系方式。
Aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, where hardship and resilience share quarters
2026-08-16T12:00:29.175Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/08/16/politics/uss-lincoln-iran-war-life-aboard
I stepped onto the USS Abraham Lincoln on July 7 at the Duqm port in Oman, just as the war with Iran was escalating again. I hadn’t even finished my first walk-through on the aircraft carrier when I learned that Iran hit a third tanker in the Strait of Hormuz and that US Central Command, which is carrying out the Pentagon’s war strategy, was gearing up to respond. I did my first live shot from the flight deck within an hour of boarding. “Your timing is impeccable,” one official messaged me.
What struck me was how little the crisis — which has led to the deaths of 18 US service members since it began in February — registered onboard. The next day was a “no fly day,” giving the crew downtime to reset after their short port visit. In the news while they did: US strikes on Iran from other naval assets, rising rhetoric on both sides as a tentative peace agreement between the US and Iran crumbled. At breakfast at 6 a.m. in the cafeteria (known as the mess deck), top enlisted crew members were remarkably calm. Most hadn’t been following the news, even with Wi-Fi onboard. They’d seen this cycle — escalation, then de-escalation — enough times that this felt routine, not alarming.
I’m writing this because a lot of the recent coverage of the Lincoln has centered on poor conditions and mental health struggles — and those stories are real and they matter. I didn’t get to see every nook and cranny of the ship, or talk to all of the roughly 5,000 crew members, though the Navy allowed us to roam freely for the most part with an escort and talk to whomever we wanted. We also pushed to see as much as we could in the short amount of time that we had.
Three days onboard the Lincoln, and dozens of conversations with sailors — both officers and enlisted — showed me something messier than a single narrative: genuine hardship alongside genuine resilience, sometimes in the same person, sometimes in the same sentence.
CNN recently reported that the Lincoln may break a record for a US carrier’s longest trip away from its home port, a nearly nine-month deployment that has prompted concerns from family members amid reports of instances of suicide ideation and crew members being rescued from the water.
https://www.cnn.com/
Commanding officer explains the mental toll of long deployments on service members
0:53 • Source: CNN
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has said the conditions aboard have been “completely misrepresented,” while President Donald Trump said last week the deployment has been “not nearly long enough.” That sentiment did not go over well with many of the sailors I’m in touch with, and it’s important to understand the reality is far more complicated than a soundbite.
At breakfast, our table had fresh fruit and vegetables — a recent development from the port visit. Iranian strikes had disrupted the supply chain through Bahrain early in the war, forcing a rationing period that sailors still talked about vividly and, then, a dearth of fresh food for many months. For a stretch, sailors told me, their meals were reduced to tuna mixed with noodles, or corn dogs. Several described losing significant weight.
By the time I arrived, that had eased. Food was plentiful, if not gourmet: 17,000 to 18,000 meals a day, largely from frozen stock, on a 14-day rotation sailors know by heart (“pizza day,” “burger day”), with morale-boosting events like ice cream socials. Young enlisted sailors still wait up to an hour in line for each meal — a grind that wears on people fast. Many told me they were dreaming of their first meal back home: Chinese food, Chipotle, a mother’s homemade bolognese.
One sailor, who messaged me after I left the ship, put it plainly: “Food has slightly increased in edibility, if I was asked a few months ago I would say a lot of people were losing weight due to the food.”
That’s not a five-star review. It’s also not the crisis some coverage has implied — it’s a supply chain that broke, then partially recovered, described honestly by the people living in a ship that has been out to sea in rough conditions.
“Lincoln is operating in a highly contested environment where traditional supply hubs in the Middle East were disrupted by combat actions,” the Navy said in a statement. “In response, leadership prioritized mission-critical supplies: first food, then hygiene items, then mail.”
I shared quarters with my photographer and producer in the guest section, below near-constant jet launches. The communal officers’ bathroom I used had hot water but needed a good scrub. Reports from elsewhere on board featured stories about backed-up toilets that, in some cases, were unusable.
The same sailor from above messaged me: “We’ve had black mold around the ship for awhile. It’s crazy to think that you can be just standing in line waiting for chow or even walking out of the shower and the ceiling drips mold onto your face, shoulders, arms, or head.”
I didn’t notice widespread black mold, though I felt drops falling from the ceiling more than once in different parts of the ship. I can’t speak to conditions in enlisted berthing and their bathrooms, which matters. There’s a a real class divide on aircraft carriers, where facilities in the wardroom and officer spaces are different from what’s in the communal enlisted berthing and “racks” below. The same applies to food accommodations.
Navy officials said in a statement that mold on the ship is addressed: “Lincoln does not have chronic problems with mold in showers,” the statement said. “Sailors routinely clean their own bathrooms and showers and replace shower curtains when needed. If mold or grime is noticed, it is addressed very quickly.”
I asked out CNN photojournalist, John Torigoe, what he thought about the conditions during our short stay. He said: “I showered with hot water on demand — it was great with no restrictions on time usage. Yes, I saw mold and old pipes. Was it expected? Absolutely, with the amount of time at sea. I was amazed at how professional these sailors were.”
“Both things are true,” Torigoe said. “The ship shows real wear after months at sea. The sailors running it impressed nearly everyone who spent time with them.” He added he took quick showers, knowing it took nuclear energy to produce hot water.
Our producer, Mick Krever, said there were some plumbing issues that were quickly resolved, and we both agreed it felt claustrophobic at times even on a large ship. The passageways are narrow and I was surprised to learn the younger enlisted sailors typically don’t go out on the flight deck unless it is part of their duties.
One sailor told me in a text message: “it’s hard to explain the loneliness you have on a deployment that’s 9 plus months. Of course you can create new friendships and grow a closer bond with people you work with or get use to being around, but you still somehow feel alone. The best example I can think of to relate to the feeling would be, imagining you are locked in a small room with a bunch of space to walk around in somehow but at the same time, you have zero privacy.”
Morale and uncertainty
Nearly half the crew is in their mid-20s or younger, many on their first or second deployment. Some described low morale, repetitive work and 12-to-16-hour days with almost no time off — “Groundhog Day,” several called it. Others said this deployment felt better than their last simply because they had Wi-Fi. Others talked about the camaraderie, describing the crew as a second family.
What came up again and again wasn’t food, low supplies, mold or slow mail — it was the open-ended extension. Another sailor explained it this way in a message to me:
Leadership told me they’d deliberately avoided setting a firm return date after giving sailors false hope before. That caution is understandable — and it’s also, by their own account, the biggest source of anxiety on the ship.
One sailor reflected the grin-and-bear-it attitude that is common during long military conflicts.
Retired Adm. James Stavridis, who oversaw military operations in Afghanistan, Libya and the Balkans before leaving the Navy in 2013, said certainty of mission helps with morale.
“During the forever wars in Iraq and Afghanistan … our Army soldiers deployed into combat, ground combat for 12 months, but they had an end game and they knew that was coming,” he told CNN. “There wasn’t this sense of it just goes on and on like Sisyphus rolling the boulder up the mountain.”
Other military experts said the access to Wi-Fi makes it easier for sailors to send their complaints home, in real time, which heightens accountability.
Sailors are indeed using social media in real time to register their complaints directly to Hegseth and reporters like me.
After I left, a sailor jumped overboard wearing a life jacket, then removed it, and his boots,in the water, according to eyewitnesses. He was rescued by helicopter. The Military Times has reported other attempted jumps, based on accounts from family members. Man-overboard incidents aren’t unique to the Lincoln, and mental health struggles have many causes — but this one reads as what it almost certainly was: a sailor in serious distress.
The Navy says there’s no widespread mental health crisis onboard. That may be technically true and still miss the point. In a floating city of 5,000 people, experiences vary enormously by job, age and rank — but some sailors are clearly struggling.
A Navy official told me suicidal ideations typically go up shortly after boarding the ship and then go down as sailors adjust. The official said that trend has been the case on the Lincoln as well. However, I do wonder how many don’t seek help because they may fear repercussions or feel ashamed.
For instance, I reviewed messages from one sailor to another about having to seek suicide counseling after he was found in a room crying, saying he wanted to kill himself.
The Navy does have a variety of mental health resources onboard I saw firsthand, including counselors, a therapy dog named Captain Fathom and chaplains who give a nightly prayer.
We live in a moment in which stories flatten fast — either the ship is a disaster or the coverage is overblown. Neither is accurate. Conditions were bad, then better. Morale is low for some, fine for others, and driven less by mold than by not knowing for so long when they’re coming home.
Now with the USS George Washington on the way to provide relief, I’m told there’s a sense of cautious hope and optimism.
A father I spoke with said his child had positive feedback aboard the ship, but he also had pointed questions about why relief wasn’t faster and how military assets are being used. Is this generation of sailors being adequately prepared for deployments like this one? Why wasn’t there better planning for supply chain disruptions? Why has relief taken this long?
What isn’t in dispute is what these sailors have sacrificed. They deserve answers to those questions. They also deserve better than being reduced to a single storyline.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Help is available if you or someone you know is struggling with suicidal thoughts or mental health matters. In the US: Call or text 988, the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. Globally: The International Association for Suicide Prevention and Befrienders Worldwide have contact information for crisis centers around the world.