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The Navy is sending the USS George Washington to the Middle East to relieve the USS Abraham Lincoln, the carrier at the center of a week of reporting on food shortages, water problems and sailors attempting to go overboard.

Getting into it: The George Washington, the Navy’s only forward-deployed carrier and normally based in Japan, left Da Nang, Vietnam, last week. It was tracked crossing the Singapore Strait and then the Strait of Malacca on Thursday alongside a cruiser and a destroyer, headed toward the Indian Ocean. US officials told the Wall Street Journal the swap was part of a rotation planned before conditions aboard the Lincoln became a story. The Navy has declined to confirm where either carrier is going, citing operational security.

The Lincoln, which left San Diego on Nov. 21, was redirected to Central Command in January ahead of the Feb. 28 start of the war. It flew missions in Operation Epic Fury and has since been enforcing the blockade of Iranian ports. The ship is now more than 250 days into the deployment and about 200 days past its last port call, a record for time at sea without a break. A carrier crew would normally get into a port every four to six weeks. The ship was supposed to be home in May.

Reports of poor conditions on the ship have lawmakers pushing for answers. Sen. Richard Blumenthal wrote to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao citing “widespread reports of shortages of basic supplies, water contamination, plumbing issues, deteriorating mental health, deck safety concerns, and disruptions in the mail system, which have caused many care packages in route to the ship to be lost in transit for months.” Sen. Ruben Gallego, a Marine veteran, said on social media that he wants to bring a bipartisan delegation aboard for an oversight visit and called the way the sailors are being treated “not just disgusting; it’s dangerous.”

Hegseth has pushed back on the reporting, telling reporters in Panama that conditions aboard have been “completely misrepresented,” while also saying he wants the Lincoln’s crew relieved and back home soon.

He added, “We make sure that every ship, every crew, every captain has everything we can provide them at every single moment. Some deployments are longer than others, and I have more respect and gratitude for those sailors than anybody. What they do in those high seas in those austere conditions with less port calls, it’s incredible.”