USS Lincoln is coming home. Officials disagree over conditions on board

The leader of U.S. Central Command is weighing in on reports of poor conditions and mental

health concerns aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln. After seeing it with his own eyes, he says

the reality is more complicated. Admiral Brad Cooper visited the Lincoln Saturday, which has been at sea for more than 200 days

The ship's been plagued with reports of food and supply shortages, water and plumbing problems

and deteriorating morale and mental health during its extended deployment. Cooper says many of the problems with food and hot water were reported months ago and have since been addressed

He also says that of the Navy's 11 active aircraft carriers, the Lincoln currently has among the fewest mental health cases

But he acknowledged, quote, this doesn't mean all is perfect. Find any of the nearly four million Navy veterans in America today, and they will likely tell you that service at sea for long periods isn't for everyone

But Democratic Senator Ruben Gallego, a former Marine, told ABC News this week he's hearing

something different from families connected to the ship I was just speaking to a spouse just about three days ago and this is the current problems right now And then it really goes to the deep deep deep problem here is that this administration did not plan for this war They

did not plan how to get out of this war, did not really understand how this war was going to

escalate. They were basically trying and hoping that this war would end up just like the war in

Venezuela. The Lincoln has been deployed for nearly nine months supporting U.S. operations

against Iran. That's more than a month beyond its original schedule. Former Joint Chiefs Chairman

Admiral Mike Mullen told ABC he believes reports about conditions on board should not be dismissed

I also believe the truth probably lies somewhere in the middle. Some of these problems, I was

connected with Admiral Cooper last night, who was on the ship yesterday, and he told me he had a

really good visit. He said many of these problems were early in the deployment and they were solved

But these are morale issues on a ship, which you really have to focus on

And now the Lincoln is coming home. U.S. officials say the USS George Washington will replace it in the Middle East as part of a planned rotation