Three are given letters of reprimand
in connection with diver's death
By Wayne Specht, Stars and
Stripes
Draughon |
Two top officers and the enlisted master diver formerly assigned to
the Sasebo-based USS Safeguard salvage vessel were handed reprimands Monday.
Lt. Cmdr. Ross Mitchell, the Safeguard commanding officer, and Lt.
William Block, the ship’s executive officer, were given punitive letters of reprimand
in connection with a May 5 accident that killed one of the ship’s divers.
Senior Chief Petty Officer Jimmie Plummer, the Safeguard’s
master diver, was also given a reprimand by Rear Adm. Mark Edwards, commander of the
Logistics Group’s Western Pacific region, during nonjudicial punishment hearings at
Sasebo Naval Base.
Charges against the ship’s command diving officer were
dismissed, according to a statement by the Seventh Fleet public affairs office. The name
of that officer was not available.
All four were ordered to shore duty June 26 during an investigation
of the death of Seaman Matthew Draughon, a 21-year-old Safeguard diver.
Draughon and Petty Officer 3rd Class Brian Gordon were salvaging F-16
debris in the Pacific Ocean adjacent to the Ripsaw range when both men became tangled
underwater near the ship’s anchor during a night dive.
Gordon was rescued, but Draughon was lost on what was to be the
Safeguard’s final day of debris recovery from an April 3 crash.
A massive air and sea search failed to locate the Hendersonville,
N.C., sailor who had been in the Navy two years.
Draughon’s body was found by Japanese fishermen near the inlet
of a river just south of the range June 5. He was buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
A Navy spokesman said the investigation into the diving accident has
been completed, but it is still being reviewed by the Navy’s chain of command.
No date was given for the release of the investigation report.
Seventh Fleet spokesman Cmdr. Matt Brown said the investigation
supported holding disciplinary proceedings against the four crewmembers.
No details regarding the accident have been released.
Brown described the punitive reprimand letter as a formal
disciplinary action against a servicemember that becomes a permanent part of their service
record.
Mitchell, a 19-year veteran of Naval service, took the helm of the
Safeguard last December.
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