USS Minneapolis St. Paul, Four Sailor Deaths, 12/29/2006

Four crew members were washed overboard by heavy waves on 29 December 2006 in Plymouth Sound, England as the ship was exiting HMNB Devonport on the surface following a port call. This resulted in the deaths of Senior Chief Petty Officer Thomas Higgins (Chief of the Boat) and Sonar Technician (Submarines) 2nd Class Michael Holtz. After the preliminary investigation, Commander Edwin Ruff, the Commanding Officer, received a punitive letter of reprimand and was relieved of command. (Source: Wikipedia)

 

Department of the Navy Documents

The following documents were released under the FOIA to the Military Times.

 CFFC Response to FOIA Request [2 Pages, 19kb]

 Command Investigation with endorsements [67 Pages, 4.7mb]

 Enclosures 1 through 13 [55 Pages, 17.56mb]

 Enclosure 14, video files and player [256.5mb] – Download contents of .zip file to CD-R and click “run.” This is a .zip file of the exact contents of the CD-ROM that accompanied the original report’s release.

 Enclosures 15 through 112 [258 Pages, 19mb]

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