Search Under Way for Missing Sailor From Carrier USS George Washington

 

A sailor from carrier USS George Washington is believed to have gone over the side during a deployment in the Western Pacific, and a search is under way. 

The Yokosuka-based supercarrier and her escorts were operating off northern Australia in the Timor Sea as part of Operation Talisman Sabre 2025. This is the largest US-Australian bilateral exercise, now in its 11th iteration. The planned operations include amphibious landings and naval maneuvers, with participants from 19 nations and 43,000 military servicemembers joining in. In addition to USS George Washington, the Royal Navy carrier HMS Prince of Wales is participating as part of her long-range Pacific tour. 

On the 28th, a sailor aboard George Washington was reported missing and possibly overboard. The strike group has interrupted its planned exercises to launch a search for the missing crewmember, aided by the Australian Border Force and Australian Defense Force. Air and surface assets are engaged in the effort. 

George Washington has a difficult history of crewmember fatalities. During a five-year yard period from 2017-22, nine sailors assigned to the ship died by suicide, including three in April 2022 alone. A command investigation found that the crew's quality of life during the yard period was austere and demanding, and that morale aboard was low. During this extended overhaul period, some of George Washington's enlisted crew started and ended their four-year Navy careers in the shipyard, without ever shipping out, and without the pay and benefits of a civilian shipyard job.