Two U.S. Navy SEALs drowned trying to board a ship carrying illegal weapons made in Iran to Yemen because of an apparent training failure and lack of understanding of what to do after falling into deep, turbulent water, according to a military investigation. January Deaths.
The review concluded that Chief Special Warfare Operator Christopher Chambers and Navy Special Warfare Operator 1st Class Nathan Gage Ingram could have prevented the sinking.
But the two quickly sank in the high seas off the coast of Somalia, weighed down by the heavy equipment they were carrying and unaware or ignoring concerns that their flotation devices could not handle the extra weight. Both disappeared at sea.
The highly critical — and heavily redacted — report — written by a Navy official from outside the Naval Special Warfare Command that oversees the SEALs — concluded there were “deficiencies, gaps and inconsistencies” in training, policies, tactics and procedures and “contradictory guidance.” When and how to use emergency flotation devices and additional flotation devices that can keep them alive. The Associated Press obtained the report upon request before its public release.
The goal of the mission was to intercept weapons going to the Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen, who have been conducting missile and drone attacks against commercial and US naval vessels in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden since the start of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza a year ago. Before. US retaliatory strikes have so far not deterred their attacks.
Chambers and Ingram, members of SEAL Team 3, died during a nighttime mission to board an unflagged ship in the Arabian Sea. Their names were redacted in the report, but officials confirmed that Chambers slipped and fell while climbing on the ship’s deck, and that Ingram tried to save him.
“The weight of each person’s gear may not be sufficient to keep them on the surface if their physical abilities or emergency auxiliary flotation devices are activated,” R Adm. Michael DeVore wrote in the report.
The report said Chambers was “uninterrupted” on the surface for 26 seconds after his fall, while Ingram was on the surface for about 32 seconds.
“The entire tragic event was over in just 47 seconds and two NSW warships were lost at sea,” Devore wrote, referring to Naval Special Warfare Command.
Properly maintained, well-functioning and properly used flotation devices can keep them afloat until they can be recovered, the report says. While other team members told investigators they knew the importance of their tactical flotation system — which includes two inflatable floats attached to a belt and insertable foam inserts — some had operated one in training, and had little instruction on how to do so. Wear it.
The report said the team was operating in 6-8-foot (1.8-2.4-meter) seas and that conditions were within their capabilities as the ship they boarded rolled into the waves.
However, as time went on, the rolling increased, and Chambers attempted to jump from the engine compartment of his battle craft to the top rail of their boarding ship, according to the report. Some commandos used an attachable ladder, but because of the waves, others jumped to the top rail, which they said was reachable but slippery.
Chambers’ hands slipped from the railing, and he fell 9 feet (2.7 meters) into the water. Based on a video of the mission, he managed to grab the bottom of the ladder, but when he tried to return to the warship, he was swept away by the wave.
Eleven seconds after he fell, Ingram jumped in. For at least 10 seconds, the video shows them hovering above the water, at times managing to grab onto a submerged extension of the ladder. But both got caught in the wave and died.