EYDER PERALTA, HOST:
The USS George Washington is headed toward the Middle East as concerns increase over poor conditions on another aircraft carrier, the USS Abraham Lincoln. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth says the U.S. can maintain the naval blockade on Iran indefinitely by just swapping out aircraft carriers. Unusually long deployments are tough on crews and on their families, and the Lincoln has had a record-setting time at sea. NPR's Tom Bowman covers the Pentagon, and he is here with details. Hey, Tom.
TOM BOWMAN, BYLINE: Hey, Eyder.
PERALTA: Tom, what have you been hearing about? What's been going on with the USS Lincoln?
BOWMAN: Well, there's a lot of concern, Eyder, over conditions. It's been out to sea for more than 250 days with 5,000 sailors on board. And with logistics hubs under the threat in the Gulf because of the war, critical supplies are hampered reaching sailors - everything from, you know, fresh food to mail to care packages. And, Eyder, this isn't the first time. NPR first broke the story on sanitation problems on the USS Ford, another carrier. Get this. A number of toilets were out of commission. Not what you want to hear when you're aboard a ship.
And MS NOW and others have been reporting that sailors have attempted to jump from the carrier Lincoln, which NPR has not independently confirmed. No matter what, both Hegseth and Navy officials deny those reports. And here's the other thing. I'm hearing similar concerns about lack of food, soap, clean water on the USS Boxer, which is also in the region. So again, a lot of concerns from sailors, from their families about these conditions.
PERALTA: I mean, all of this seems like really basic challenges for the U.S. and the world's most powerful military. And it's in huge contrast with what we've been seeing with the incredibly innovative use of battlefield tech, like the drones that Ukraine uses against Russia. What does this tell you?
BOWMAN: Well, you know, what the Pentagon is saying is the delays are due to resupply issues. It could be operational demands, supply chain concerns. And also, in a war, fuel and munitions take precedent over, let's say, packages from home or some of these other issues. They say, you know, there is food aboard. It's not maybe the best food - maybe, you know, energy bars or corn dogs rather than a decent hot meal. But Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has said these concerns are misrepresented. But Navy Secretary Hung Cao had a pretty stormy meeting with families of the Lincoln sailors. There were, like, 200 people in this room in San Diego. So they're getting an earful really from family members now and - as well as sailors.
PERALTA: We're now in the sixth month of this conflict with Iran. It hasn't involved boots on the ground, but the changing goals of the war evoke Iraq and the 20 years in Afghanistan - the forever wars - don't they?
BOWMAN: Well, in some ways, you know, the Iran war is even worse because in places like Iraq, Afghanistan or even Vietnam, you could walk out of those countries, just leave, and there'd be no economic implications. That's not the case here with Iran. The Strait of Hormuz - Iran still has a great deal of control over that. Before the war, there was 130, 140 ships going through the strait. Now, Eyder, it's down to fewer than a dozen. They have to deal with that problem.
And, you know, analysts I talk with said, you know, at some point, you're going to have to give a carrot of some kind to Iran for them to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Now, that could be allowing them to, let's say, charge service fees of some kind for ships going through. It could be, you know, unfreezing some of their billions of dollars and giving it to Iran. But that has to be dealt with.
And one last thing I would like to mention - I've talked to admirals and generals over the past number of weeks. And they say, Tom, we've been studying the Strait of Hormuz for 40 years. If there's a war with Iran, that's the first thing they're going to do - close the strait. But apparently the administration didn't listen to the military leaders and others who have been looking at this as a critical point.
PERALTA: That's NPR's Tom Bowman. Tom, thank you for your reporting.
BOWMAN: You're welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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