Sixty-three percent of executive officers said that insufficient manning made it “moderately to extremely difficult to complete repairs while underway."
The June 1 incident at Naval Air Station Lemoore, California, occurred as the sailor was maintaining a Lightning II assigned to Strike Fighter Squadron 97.
The super flood basin is akin to a navigational lock that upgrades the shallowest of the shipyard’s dry docks, allowing submarines to enter independent of tides and without buoyancy.
One probe will look for commonalities and trigger points among three GW sailor suicides last month, while another will look at how the Navy can do better by sailors in the shipyard environment.
Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy Russell Smith's visit to Newport News Friday comes in the wake of three sailor suicides among the crew in the past two weeks.