As USS Lincoln heads home, mental health experts tally the stressors of life at sea

The USS Abraham Lincoln conducts U.S. blockade operations related to the Strait of Hormuz on April 16 in the Arabian Sea. The aircraft carrier is now headed homeward after reports of deteriorating conditions onboard. U.S. Navy/Getty Images hide caption

The USS Abraham Lincoln, which has been participating in U.S. military operations in the war with Iran, is now on its way home. The roughly 5,000 sailors and Marines aboard that ship have spent a grueling nine months at sea with little relief.

Reports have emerged of deteriorating conditions — and of deteriorating mental health, including apparent attempts by crewmembers to jump overboard. The Navy has not confirmed those reports, and NPR has not independently verified them. "A small number of mental health cases were treated with no loss of life," acting Secretary of the Navy Hung Cao said in a statement last week.

Experts say that while the physical circumstances are difficult, a lack of careful and consistent messaging from leadership at the highest levels also contributed to the crews' mental distress.

The USS Lincoln is like a small city, according to Armen Kurdian, a retired U.S. Navy captain who served aboard the aircraft carrier in 2005. The labor aboard the carrier, he says, can be uniquely physical and difficult.

" It takes a toll on your body," says Kurdian. "The plane captains are out there on the flight deck — you know, these 18-, 19-, 20-year-olds lugging these 100-pound chains on their backs in 120-degree weather."

He describes dehydration and exhaustion as pilots have to take off and land on the carriers, sometimes at night and in bad weather, and "then just being mentally prepared to go fly because lives are at stake."

In the off-hours, Kurdian says there is little to no privacy, with people sleeping in crowded quarters.