The Avenger-class mine countermeasures ship USS Gladiator uses sonar to assist members of Explosive Ordnance Disposal Mobile Unit 1 to locate training mines in this April 2010 photo. (Kathleen Gorby/U.S. Navy)
MANAMA, Bahrain — The Department of Defense has identified a USS Gladiator sailor who died Sunday from a non-hostile gunshot wound while the ship was in port at Bahrain.
Seaman Philip Frazier Manes, 21, of Fairfax, Va., died after sustaining the wound and being transported to a nearby hospital, the Navy said.
The Navy said Manes enlisted in March 2014 and joined the crew of the Gladiator in August of this year.
A source familiar with the investigation, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak about the case, said the death is being investigated as an apparent suicide.
The Gladiator, an Avenger-class mine countermeasures ship, is assigned to the 5th Fleet, which has its headquarters in Bahrain.
