The incident occurred at around 3:00 p.m., about 92 miles off the coast of North Carolina. The Normandy, which is homeported in Norfolk, Virginia, was in the midst of a training exercise during the incident. The Navy Times added that it occurred near Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, a USMC airfield,
Other Norfolk-based naval vessels, including the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, the missile destroyer USS Bainbridge and USS The Sullivans, the destroyer USS Mason, and the US Coast Guard's cutter USCGC Forward will participate in the search alongside the Normandy. Navy and Coast Guard aircraft are also participating.
It's Navy policy to not release the name of the sailor during the search and rescue operation, but the sailor's family has been alerted, according to the USS Normandy's Facebook page.
"Navy surface ships and aircraft are en route to assist Normandy and Coast Guard aircraft that are currently on station supporting the search-and-rescue operations," said Lt. Commander Brian Wierzbicki, a Fleet Forces Command spokesman, in an email to Stripes. "Our thoughts are with the USS Normandy family and we will provide updates as they become available."
It isn't clear what caused the sailor to go overboard, and the Navy has made no comments pertaining to it.
The USS Normandy is named for the famous battle of World War II where Allied forces opened a western front on the beachheads of northwest France. Coincidentally, the sailor went overboard on the 73rd anniversary of D-Day, the landing that begun the campaign.
