Navy search ends for missing sailor off North Carolina

The Navy has called off the massive search for a sailor presumed to have gone overboard Saturday from from the dock landing ship Carter Hall.

Eight ships and Navy and Coast Guard aircraft searched for the missing female third-class petty officer for three days. The Navy has not released the sailor's identity.

The cessation of the search and rescue mission Tuesday afternoon was confirmed by a Navy official familiar with the operation.

The circumstances that led to the woman’s disappearance remain unclear. A pair of boots with a note was found on deck near the ship's stern after she disappeared, according to an internal Navy report.
By Sunday, the aircraft carrier Dwight D. Eisenhower assumed the lead role in the search. Carrier Strike Group 4 head Rear Adm. Bruce Lindsey was on-scene commander for the search. Joining Carter Hall and Ike were the destroyers Laboon, Mahan, Mason, Nitze, Truxtun and Stout. A ninth ship, the destroyer Cole, also assisted in the search, as well as the Coast Guard Fifth District Command Center, according to a Tuesday evening Navy release.

Lindsey offered his condolences to the family in a statement.

"It is with a deep sense of sadness that we suspend the search for our fellow shipmate," he said. "Our sincere condolences are with the Sailor's family, who have requested privacy following their tragic loss."

The Carter Hall was about 60 nautical miles off of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, supporting Eisenhower's pre-deployment workups when the woman went missing. The search covered 22,388 square nautical miles, the release said, an area roughly the size of South Carolina.

The water temperatures in the vicinity of Cape Hatteras where the sailor went missing, have ranged from 60 degrees to 70 degrees Fahrenheit through most of the weekend and air temperatures have dropped to the low 40s, making extended survival in the water unlikely.