Acting US Navy Secretary Hung Cao reportedly acknowledged that Iranian attacks caused extensive damage to US naval facilities in Bahrain, according to The Epoch Times.
Iranian forces "blew the hell out of Bahrain," the media outlet quoted in an interview. It was a rare high-level acknowledgment of the extent of damage sustained by Naval Support Activity Bahrain, headquarters of the US Fifth Fleet.
Cao said damage to the base also affected operations involving the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier, leaving the crew with "no place for them to pull in."
Open-source and satellite imagery analyses previously indicated substantial damage to US facilities in Bahrain during Iranian attacks early in the war.
The Navy's top uniformed officer, Adm. Daryl Caudle, said earlier this month that the service would not return to Naval Support Activity Bahrain "anytime soon" because of the damage.
Asked whether the navy would need to return to the facility to sustain high-intensity deployments such as the Lincoln's recent mission, Cao said the issue was under review.
"I have a task force that's looking at that," he said.
The USS Abraham Lincoln had spent nearly nine months on an extended deployment, including about 200 days in a combat zone, before docking at Laem Chabang, Thailand, earlier this month.
The extended deployment drew scrutiny from lawmakers and sailors' families amid reports of food and water shortages, plumbing problems and deteriorating morale, as well as concerns about sailors' mental health and the risk of self-harm.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said reports about conditions aboard the carrier were "completely misrepresented."
Cao has served as acting navy secretary since April 22. President Donald Trump nominated him Sept. 1 to take the position permanently.
His confirmation would require a congressional waiver because federal law generally requires former military officers to have been retired for seven years before serving as a military department secretary. Cao retired from the Navy in 2021.
