The Navy is sending a deep water salvage team to scour the depths of the Philippine Sea for the remains of three sailors who died in a Nov. 22 a C-2A Greyhound crash.
Eight other sailors aboard were rescued after the aircraft crashed en route to the carrier Ronald Reagan.
A special dive team is deploying from the states because the waters where the aircraft sunk are more than 16,000 feet deep, according to a release from the Navy’s Japan-based 7th Fleet.
Once on site, a team from the Navy’s Supervisor of Salvage and Diving office will head to the crash site, where operators will begin the search for the Greyhound’s emergency relocation pinger.
“If the search is successful, additional deep water salvage assets will deploy to survey and recover the aircraft,” the Navy release states. “Every effort will be made to recover the fallen sailors.”
Lt. Steven Combs, Aviation Boatswain’s Mate Airman Matthew Chialastri and Aviation Ordnanceman Airman Apprentice Bryan Grosso died in the crash.
U.S. and Japanese forces spent three days spanning nearly 1,000 square nautical miles searching for the three sailors before ending the effort.
Geoff is the managing editor of Military Times, but he still loves writing stories. He covered Iraq and Afghanistan extensively and was a reporter at the Chicago Tribune. He welcomes any and all kinds of tips at geoffz@militarytimes.com.
