The pilot of a Navy F/A-18 Hornet that dropped a 500-pound bomb on the cruiser USS Reeves in the Indian Ocean "mistook the Reeves for his intended target" during night weapons practice, the Navy said Tuesday.
But it was still not clear how the pilot became so confused that he could bomb an American warship, Lt. Cmdr. Craig Quigley said, adding that the cruiser was not towing a target during the weapons practice."Clearly he mistook the Reeves for his intended target," Quigley said. "The best we have is that there was a floating target about 5 miles away" from the cruiser.
The Navy jet pilot was being debriefed Tuesday aboard the aircraft carrier USS Midway, where he returned after Monday night's bombing.
The Midway's battle group was 32 miles from Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean when the accident occurred at 9:06 p.m. Monday local time (1:06 p.m. Monday EST).
Five sailors aboard the Reeves were slightly injured from flying glass and the force of the blast, but Navy officials were relieved the 500-pound Mark 82 "general purpose bomb" caused no serious injuries or damage to the ship.
"It appears in this particular case that the explosive force of the bomb did not occur in the interior of the ship but stayed on the exterior," Quigley said. "It does not appear that the damage was major at all."
A 5-foot circular hole was reported on the main deck near the bow. The Reeves, based at Yokosuka, Japan, with the Midway, was in port at Diego Garcia Tuesday so Navy officials could assess the damage.
Quigley said the angle at which the bomb hit the ship and how it was "fused" to explode would determine how much penetration and damage it would do to a target.
Quigley said he did not know how the fuse was set on this particular bomb or whether the pilot who dropped the bomb was a veteran or rookie.
*****
(additional information)
Three sailors and 38 missiles on the aircraft carrier USS Eisenhower were washed overboard early Tuesday morning near Cape Hatteras, off the coast of North Carolina, in the Navy's third accident in as many days, a Navy spokesman said. Two sailors were plucked from the ocean by Navy rescue helicopters, and crews searched for the third, said Lt. Commander Steve Burnett of the Atlantic Fleet headquarters. One of the rescued sailors was in critical but stable condition and the second was reported in good condition at the carrier's hospital. Names of the sailors were being withheld pending notification of next of kin.