YOKOSUKA NAVAL BASE, Japan — The Navy on Thursday released the identity of a USS Cowpens sailor who died after falling from the ship and into a dry dock June 22.

Petty Officer 3rd Class Christopher John Perino, 25, had been standing on the guided-missile cruiser’s bridge wing when he fell about 100 feet into the dry dock at 8:05 a.m., according to 7th Fleet spokesman Cmdr. Jeff Davis.

Perino, of Modesto, Calif., was pronounced dead at U.S. Naval Hospital Yokosuka about an hour later, Davis said.

The death continues to be investigated but is being treated as a possible suicide, Davis said.

Perino had been stationed aboard USS Cowpens as a quartermaster since March 2009, according to Navy records. He enlisted in the Navy in 2008 and had previously been assigned to Naval Station Great Lakes, Ill.

From staff reports

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