What Went Wrong on the U.S.S. Lincoln?

About this episode

<p>For the past two weeks, family members of sailors have been raising alarms about the conditions aboard the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln, which has a crew of about 5,000 and has been at sea for almost nine months straight.</p> <p>Today, John Ismay, a New York Times reporter who covers the Pentagon with a focus on armed conflict and the defense industry, discusses what went wrong on the ship and how it could affect the U.S. military’s ability to fight wars.</p> <p>Guest: <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/by/john-ismay" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><strong>John Ismay</strong></a>, a New York Times reporter who covers the Pentagon with a focus on armed conflict and the defense industry.</p> <p>Background reading: </p> <ul> <li><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/13/us/uss-abraham-lincoln-iran-navy.html?searchResultPosition=3" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln has been deployed for nearly nine months.</a> Members of Congress are worried about the crew’s well-being.</li> <li><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/16/us/politics/uss-lincoln-iran-admiral.html?searchResultPosition=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Admiral Brad Cooper, the head of U.S. Central Command, acknowledged the difficulty of the carrier’s lengthy deployment</a> but said mental health issues were lower than on other vessels.</li> </ul> <p>Photo: Jason Waite/Agence France-Presse, via Navy Office of Information</p> <p>For more information on today’s episode, visit <a href="http://nytimes.com/thedaily?smid=pc-thedaily" rel="noopener noreferrer">nytimes.com/thedaily</a>. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. </p> <p><p>Subscribe today at <a href="http://nytimes.com/podcasts">nytimes.com/podcasts</a> or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher">https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher</a>. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.</p></p><br/> <p>Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See <a href="https://pcm.adswizz.com">pcm.adswizz.com</a> for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.</p>