A new US aircraft carrier has been sent to the Middle East to replace the USS Abraham Lincoln, which has suffered a mental health crisis onboard.

The USS George Washington was sent to the region as the Lincoln reached a record deployment of more than 265 days at sea.

A sailor jumped from the aircraft carrier as the 5,000-strong crew reached a breaking point amid food and critical supply shortages.

Donald Trump dismissed concerns about the ship, declaring the deployment was “not nearly long enough”.

“That ship is moving right now, or very shortly, and it’s being replaced with another very similar ship,” he told reporters on Friday.

The USS George Washington, another Nimitz-class carrier, is expected to arrive in the region to support American forces in the Iran war in around nine days.

The carrier is based in Japan and has been operating in the Pacific in recent weeks.

US officials said its deployment to the Middle East was part of a previously scheduled rotation plan.

Military families have raised concerns about the conditions on the USS Abraham Lincoln, citing issues with lavatories, showers, food and burnout among sailors onboard the warship who have not stepped on dry land this year.

The conditions have led sailors to attempt to end their lives by going overboard as the war in Iran drags on.

The US Defence Secretary, Pete Hegseth, said reports about poor conditions were “completely misrepresented.”

Supply problems onboard the carrier began at the start of the war after Iranian missiles hit a naval base in Bahrain.

The attack destroyed the base, which housed a major navy logistics hub, The New York Times reported.

The Pentagon was forced to use British base Diego Garcia as its supply hub, which is around 2,200 miles from where the aircraft carrier was operating in the Gulf of Oman.

Diego Garcia was a point of contention between the US and UK after Sir Keir Starmer, the former prime minister, initially denied the Pentagon access to the base to strike Iran.

Sir Keir relented on March 1, following a barrage of criticism from the US president, allowing the US military access to the island for “specific and limited defensive purpose.”

A US military official confirmed the navy began using Diego Garcia as the main shipment point for the aircraft carrier after the Bahraini base was destroyed.

The use of the base probably explains why Iran fired two medium-range ballistic missiles at Diego Garcia in March.

Neither of the missiles hit their target, with one believed to have been intercepted by a US warship’s SM-3 interceptor and the other failing in flight.

The Lincoln departed San Diego in California on Nov 21, 2025, for duty in the South China Sea before being rerouted to the Middle East before Operation Epic Fury in February.

The deployment was expected to end in May but was extended without a return date.

Food shortages and broken plumbing are among the long list of issues on the ship, prompting calls from Congress members to take action.

The USS George Washington’s movement to the Middle East will leave a temporary void in the Pacific, where China has deployed its own aircraft carrier.

Another carrier, the USS George HW Bush, has also been operating in the Middle East for months since deploying from Norfolk on March 31.

The Washington has a crew size of up to 6,250 and can accommodate approximately 90 aircraft, the same number as the Lincoln.

On Friday, Mr Trump said he would declare the Strait of Hormuz a “territory of the United States” despite having repeatedly failed to reopen it.

The president said he would annex the waterway before suggesting he already controlled it anyway.

During a speech in New York, Mr Trump said: “After we finish defeating Iran, which is being very badly defeated, pretty soon I’ll be declaring the Hormuz Strait a territory of the United States.

“Essentially, that’s what it is. We have the blockade. No ships get through unless we want them to.”

He later posted an AI-generated image of himself aboard an Iranian tanker with the caption: “This is our tanker now.”

Iran hit back on Saturday, with Kazem Gharibabadi, Iran’s deputy foreign minister, posting on X: “This strait will be opened and closed only under Iran’s command, and so long as you do not accept the reality of defeat and stop indulging in fantasies, Iran will continue to enforce the blockade.”