A sailor was found dead on the aircraft carrier the USS Carl Vinson on Sunday while it was docked in San Diego, Navy officials said in a news release.
Carrier spokeswoman Lt. Cmdr. Christina Gibson refused to disclose the deceased sailor’s identity, saying in a statement instead that the person’s name would not be provided until 24 hours after their next of kin had been notified. The sailor was found unresponsive while the ship was pier-side at the Naval Air Station North Island, located in San Diego, California. The Navy Region Southwest Federal Fire Department responded and pronounced the sailor deceased at the scene.
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“The Navy is investigating the circumstances of the death and there are no indications of suicide or foul play,” Gibson said.
The Nimitz-class supercarrier had a safety mishap earlier this year while conducting operations in the South China Sea, when a U.S. fighter jet had trouble landing. The jet, an F-35C Lightning II assigned to Carrier Air Wing 2, had problems after conducting flight operations for the USS Carl Vinson, the Navy said at the time.
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The incident, which occurred in late January, left seven sailors injured, with three of them requiring medical evacuation to a treatment facility in the Philippines. The other four were treated by onboard medical personnel. The three who were evacuated were in stable condition and recovered.
Naval crashes are an unfortunate yet common occurrence. A Navy helicopter crashed off the San Diego coast in September while “conducting routine flight operations,” killing five sailors in the process. Investigators later determined that the crash happened after the helicopter’s main rotor hit the flight deck.
