Two Sailors Injured as Small Craft Used by SEALs Takes on Water Off California Coast
The fast boats are typically used by Navy SEALs.
— -- Two sailors are being treated for injuries after their small fast boat took on water in the vicinity of San Clemente Island off the Southern California Coast, military officials said today.
Officially known as Combatant Craft, Medium Mark V (CCM), the fast boats are typically used by Navy SEALs.
The incident occurred around 2:30 a.m. Pacific time as two CCM fast boats were operating in waters several miles off of San Clemente Island, Navy officials said. The southernmost of the Channel Islands, San Clemente Island is owned by the Navy and used for various training.
One of the CCM boats took on water and two of the small number of sailors aboard the small craft were injured in the incident, according to U.S. Navy spokesperson Lt. Commander Nicole Schwegman.
They are being treated for what a Navy official described as minor injuries aboard the destroyer U.S.S. Spruance that was a mile away at the time of the incident, Schwegman said. The CCM boat is being towed back to base.
The CCM boat had lost power and had begun to take on water, Schwegman said.
The sailors aboard were boat operators from Naval Special Warfare Command and were conducting routine training off the island, said Lt. Commander Mark Walton a spokesman for Naval Special Warfare Command.
The U.S. Coast Guard was initially contacted by the Navy to provide a medevac but did not respond after it was contacted again by the Navy that the nearby Navy ships would provide assistance, said Petty Officer Robert Simpson, a Coast Guard spokesman in San Diego.
CCM boats are fast-moving small craft used to transport Navy SEALs for the quick insertion of forces by sea into hostile areas. The 60-foot-long craft can be deployed from larger ships and can carry as many as 19 passengers, including a crew of four. The sailors who man the vessels fall under Navy Special Operations Command but are not SEALs, military officials said.
