250+ Days at Sea. Congress Must Act.
For more than 250 consecutive days, the 5,000 sailors and Marines of the USS Abraham Lincoln have been at sea, holding the line on an illegal war that Congress never authorized.
They left San Diego in November 2025 for a seven-month Pacific deployment and, instead of returning home in May 2026 as planned, the carrier was diverted to the Middle East to support Trump’s illegal war on Iran. They have not been given a return date.
That deployment is now in its ninth month and has surpassed a modern Navy record for consecutive days at sea. In that time, sailors and military families have reported:
- Food and water shortages, with meals reportedly reduced to half a cup of rice and two tortillas.
- Mold, broken plumbing, and weeks without hot water.
- Contaminated water supplies.
- Care packages lost in the mail for months.
- Sailors so worn down that the ship’s own doctor, by family accounts, warned they needed to reach port soon.
- Multiple sailors who have attempted to jump overboard.
- Sailors send messages to their spouses, hoping they “don’t wake up tomorrow.”
The war this carrier is supporting has already killed at least 18 U.S. service members and wounded roughly 500 more, with thousands of Iranian civilians killed. The House of Representatives has voted twice to direct the President to end U.S. involvement. Yet, our sailors and Marines are still in harm’s way while Secretary Hegseth and Acting Secretary of the Navy Hung Cao refuse to provide answers or take accountability.
When the Department of Defense lies about the reality of its actions overseas, the duty falls to Congress to establish the facts.
Sign the petition calling on Congress to send an immediate, bipartisan delegation to the USS Abraham Lincoln to inspect conditions, hear privately from its sailors and Marines, and open a formal inquiry into the decisions that put the crew in this position.