OAN Staff James Meyers
3:37 PM – Friday, October 11, 2024
An investigation into the death of two Navy SEALS who drowned during a mission to seize Iranian missile parts bound for the Houthi rebels in Yemen found that the deaths could have been prevented.
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The report from an outside investigator found the deaths of Chief Special Warfare Operator Christopher J. Chambers and Navy Special Warfare Operator 1st Class Nathan Gage of SEAL Team Three were attributable to “a lack of a failsafe and layered defense to provide buoyancy” in case of a mishap.
“There is no doubt the act of boarding a suspected smuggling vessel is dangerous and can elevate in risk depending on the factors of the mission,” Rear Adm. Michael DeVore wrote. “However, deficiencies, gaps and inconsistencies in doctrine, tactics, techniques and procedures created missed opportunities for safeguards that could have decreased the likelihood for this incident.”
Gen. Michael Kurilla, the commander of U.S. Central Command, said in a memo to Naval Forces Central Command (NAVCENT) that he concurred with the findings and the incident “marked by systematic issues was preventable.”
“A layered defense of personal responsibility, properly maintained and functional equipment, and process and procedures safeguard against such hazard,” he wrote.
Additionally, NAVCENT, the central naval force in the Middle East region, and Naval Special Warfare Command (NSW) concurred with the findings.
This comes after the SEALS went missing on January 11th, when the U.S. conducted a mission, targeting an Iranian ship carrying Iranian missile parts and other weapons for Houthis in Yemen.
According to the Associated Press, Chambers slipped and fell during the nighttime boarding mission and Ingram jumped in to rescue him. They had been climbing to the Iranian vessel, a dhow, from a U.S. combat ship and rough conditions in the ocean had rolled the Iranian dhow.
Furthermore, the report stated that both sailors were overloaded by heavy equipment and were lost to the sea within 47 seconds.
DeVore also ruled out certain factors such as time, weather and an anonymous report that drinking took place on board the U.S. operations boat.
The search was finally called off on January 22nd, with rescue crews saying they couldn’t find the missing sailors.
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