Two U.S. Navy aircraft crashed into the South China Sea about 30 minutes apart on Sunday while conducting “routine operations” from the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz.
In a statement, the U.S. Pacific Fleet said a MH-60R Seahawk helicopter assigned to Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron 73 went down around 2:45 p.m. local time. All three crewmembers were rescued and are “safe and in stable condition.”
Then, around 3:15 p.m., a F/A-18F Super Hornet fighter jet assigned to Strike Fighter Squadron 22 crashed into the sea. Both crewmembers ejected safely and were recovered by search and rescue personnel from Carrier Strike Group 11, the Pacific Fleet said.
The cause of both crashes is under investigation.
According to the Associated Press, Nimitz is returning to Naval Base Kitsap in Washington state after being deployed to the Middle East over the summer as part of an international response to attacks by Yemen’s Houthis against commercial shipping in and around the Red Sea.
Notably, another U.S. aircraft carrier, the USS Harry S. Truman, has seen a number of mishaps involving the F/A-18 over the last year.
In December 2024, the guided-missile cruiser USS Gettysburg accidentally shot down an F/A-18 from Truman over the Red Sea. A few months later, in April, one of the fighter jets slipped off Truman when the carrier made a sharp turn to evade Houthi fire. And in May, another F/A-18 fell overboard off Truman while landing due to an apparent failure with the ship’s arresting gear.
All crewmembers were rescued in those incidents.
