In April 2026, the news outlet USA Today included two photos in a report (archived) that allegedly showed meals served to service members on board military ships in the Middle East.
One of the images, reportedly taken on board the USS Tripoli, showed a tortilla and some shredded meat on an otherwise empty lunch tray. Another, allegedly from the USS Abraham Lincoln, showed carrots, what appeared to be a hamburger patty and what USA Today described as "a gray slab of processed meat" on a half-empty tray.
Writing on Instagram (archived), the progressive nonprofit The Other 98% described one of USA Today's images as "dismal."
The images also circulated on Facebook (archived), Threads (archived), X (archived), Bluesky (archived) and Reddit (archived). Snopes readers contacted us, asking if the images really showed meals for U.S. service members.
We could not independently confirm the authenticity of the images. USA Today's report anonymized the names of the people who took the images and the people who shared them with the outlet were reportedly worried they would be punished for their actions.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth (archived) and the U.S. Navy's Office of the Chief of Naval Operations (archived) called reports of food shortages on board USS Tripoli and USS Abraham Lincoln "FAKE NEWS" and "false" in statements on X.
Snopes does not rely on anonymous sources. Because we could not view the original reported images nor confirm the identities of the people who took them, we leave this claim unrated.
We contacted the Department of Defense to ask for more information about the photos and await a reply. We also contacted Cybele Mayes-Osterman, who reported the images for USA Today, to ask how that outlet verified the images. We await replies to our queries.
Snopes asked the U.S. Navy how it explained USA Today's images if there was no food shortage on board either of the military ships the images supposedly came from. A spokesperson declined to comment beyond the statement the Navy already published on X.
That statement read:
Recent reports alleging food shortages and poor quality aboard our deployed ships are false. Both USS Abraham Lincoln and USS Tripoli have sufficient food onboard to serve their crews with healthy options. The health and wellbeing of our Sailors and Marines are my top priority, and every crew member continues to receive fully portioned, nutritionally balanced meals.
It continued:
The @USNavy possesses an unmatched logistics capability to sustain operations at sea, and routine menu adjustments are simply how we optimize our endurance to keep our warships in the fight.
Hegseth said on April 17, 2026, that the USS Tripoli and the USS Abraham Lincoln "Both have 30+ days of Class I supplies (food) on board."
Service members reportedly missing food, shampoo and mail
USA Today reported on April 16, 2026, that a female Marine on board the USS Tripoli and a male service member on board the USS Abraham Lincoln shared images of their meals with their parents. The outlet called those images "unappetizing."
USA Today's reporter spoke to both of the service members' parents, who were concerned that their children were going hungry. The male service member on board the USS Abraham Lincoln who shared the image of carrots, a hamburger patty and what USA Today described as "a gray slab of processed meat," reportedly told his mother in March 2026 that service members on the ship "eat when they can, and they divvy up food evenly when one person gets more than the others."
That service member reportedly said he expected supplies to dwindle further and morale to decrease as a result.
The USS Abraham Lincoln arrived in the Middle East in late January, the nonprofit military institution the U.S. Naval Institute reported. According to DVIDS, the Department of Defense's image service, the Navy last resupplied that ship on March 18, 2026. (The Navy can resupply warships at sea by either transferring goods from another ship or from helicopters in the air.)
The Marine on board the USS Tripoli reportedly told her father that, as well as food, hygiene products on the ship were also running low.
U.S. Central Command, the military command responsible for operations in the Middle East, said (archived) on social media the USS Tripoli arrived in the Middle East on March 27, 2026, around one month after the U.S. and Israel carried out strikes on Iran, starting a war in the region.
It was unclear when the Navy had last resupplied the USS Tripoli. We asked
Both ships remained in the Middle East on April 19, according to U.S. Central Command (archived, archived).
According to USA Today, a pause on mail deliveries to the crew onboard the warships made the reported shortages worse. The Navy's Office of the Chief of Naval Operations said (archived) on April 17, 2026, it had lifted a "temporary ban" on sending mail to some military zip codes.
USA Today reported that families and community organizations had tried to send food, hygiene products and other essentials to deployed service members but that those packages had not arrived.
An April 17 service alert from the U.S. Postal Service said it had suspended deliveries to 27 Military Post Offices. It was unclear where those offices were located, as the postal service reportedly does not share the exact locations that military zip codes cover.
For further reading, Snopes has reported extensively on claims related to the Iran war.