The US Navy has disclosed that eight service members assigned to the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group attempted suicide during its extended deployment. This figure includes personnel aboard the aircraft carrier, its air wing and accompanying destroyers. The disclosure came in a letter from Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao to Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, reported CNN.
Importantly, the figure does not mean eight sailors aboard the aircraft carrier itself. Cao wrote that the total covers the Lincoln crew, carrier air wing, strike-group and destroyer-squadron staff, escorting destroyers and embarked aviation squadrons. No suicide deaths occurred during the deployment, according to the Navy secretary's letter.
