A US Navy team has recovered a military jet from a depth of 9,500 feet in the Mediterranean Sea on August 3 after the aircraft had blown overboard during “unexpected heavy weather” in July, a release from US Naval Forces Europe-Africa said.
The jet was aboard the USS Harry S. Truman, an aircraft carrier, when it blew overboard on July 8, the release said.
The service members who recovered the aircraft used a remotely operated vehicle to attach “specialized rigging and lift lines” to the jet while it was underwater.
After attaching the rigging, the recovery team then attached a lifting hook to the rigging to “raise the aircraft to the surface” of the ocean and “hoist it” onto the multi-purpose construction vessel Everest, a separate motor vessel that can be used for a variety of purposes in the ocean, the release said.
Once the aircraft had been recovered from the depths of the ocean and put on the MPV Everest, the team transported the aircraft to a “nearby military installation,” the release said.
The aircraft will then be transported from the military installation to the US, the release added.
The team that recovered the aircraft included service members from several different naval units, among them members from Task Force (CTF) 68, Naval Sea Systems Command’s Supervisor of Salvage and Diving, service members assigned to the aircraft carrier Harry S. Truman, Naval Strike Fighter Wing Atlantic and US Sixth Fleet, the release said.
“The rapid response of the combined team… allowed us to conduct safe recovery operations within 27 days of the incident,” Lieutenant Commander Miguel Lewis, US Sixth Fleet salvage officer, said in the statement. “Our task tailored team operated safely and efficiently to meet the timeline.”
