CAPE HATTERAS, N.C. -- Four sailors were washed overboard from aircraft carriers in two separate incidents Tuesday, making it the Navy's fourth accident in three days. Two seamen were later rescued, officials said.
Three sailors and 38 missiles on the aircraft carrier USS Eisenhower were washed overboard early Tuesday off Cape Hatteras.
Two sailors were plucked from the ocean by Navy rescue helicopters and crews searched for the third, said Lt. Cmdr. Steve Burnett of the Atlantic Fleet headquarters in Norfolk, Va.
One of the rescued sailors was in critical but stable condition and the secondwas reported in good condition at the carrier's hospital. Names of the sailors were being withheld pending notification of next of kin.
The missing sailor has been identified as Craig Anthony Harris, 22, of Uniontown, Pa., Lt. Paul Jenkins said.
Jenkins said the search was called off and there were no plans to resume the search Wednesday.
In a separate incident, a sailor aboard the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson was washed overboard some 600 miles north of Wake Island at 5:26 a.m. Tuesday during 12-foot swells and 10-knot winds.
The Navy said a search-and-rescue operation was mounted; it included the Carl Vinson and its aircraft and two support ships, the California and the Vincennes. The battle group was on its way home to Alameda, Calif., from a port call in South Korea when the sailor was lost.
In addition to these two incidents, the Navy has suffered two other accidents in as many days that have left five sailors dead and two warships damaged.
Four men and one woman men were killed and 19 injured Sunday when a fledgling pilot's landing attempt went awry on the carrier USS Lexington in the Gulf of Mexico. On Monday, five sailors were injured when a plane accidentally dropped a 500-pound bomb on the cruiser USS Reeves in the Indian Ocean.
At the Pentagon, defense officials said the Navy accidents were unrelated and do not signify a safety problem on U.S. vessels.
'If you look at the totality of Navy operations worldwide, obviously by a very wide margin the operations have been safe,' Pentagon spokesman Fred Hoffman said.
Navy spokesman Lt. Bruce Cole said, 'What we've got are totally unrelated accidents; one in the Atlantic, one in the Gulf of Mexico and another in the Indian Ocean.
'The circumstances are totally unrelated. I don't see any conclusions anyone can draw from it. There wouldn't appear to be any common thread,' Cole said.
In the Eisenhower accident, Burnett said the sailors were moving gear and ordnance from a flight deck to a hangar deck below when they were washed over by waves during routine operations about 1:15 a.m. EST.
The carrier was in the midst of rain, moderate seas and winds at the time of the mishap, Burnett said.
About 18 Sparrow missiles and 20 Sidewinder missiles were washed overboard and sank immediately, the spokesman said. The missiles, which were armed with conventional warheads, sank in deep water and posed no danger.
SH3H Sea King helicopters based at the Jacksonville Naval Air Station in Florida rescued the two sailors, Burnett said.
The elevator apparently reached the hanger deck when a huge wave washed them overboard, said Lt. Commander Mike John of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet's Naval Air Force in Norfolk.
'We don't suspect any mechancial diffculties,' John said, referring to operation of the elevator.
The Eisenhower's home port is in Norfolk. Burnett said the carrier was on routine operations when the accident happened. He said the Navy will launch an investigation immediately to determine what happened.
The 6,000-man Eisenhower was in an advanced stage of training its airwing when the accident occurred, Burnett said.
