August 29, 2017

*-- Navy recovers remains of missing sailors from USS John S. McCain --*

The U.S. Navy said it has now recovered the remains of all 10 sailors who went missing after a collision involving the USS John S. McCain a week ago.

The 7th Fleet said the remains were recovered within the flooded compartments of the guided missile destroyer, which collided with a merchant tanker ship last week in a crowded shipping lane off Singapore.

The incident, though, remains under investigation. The USS John S. McCain traveled to a military base in Singapore under its own power after the collision.

The ship, commissioned in 1994, is named after the father and grandfather of current Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. -- both of whom were Navy admirals.

News of the recovery came two days after the Navy identified the fallen sailors: Electronics Technician 1st Class Charles Nathan Findley, 31, from Amazonia, Mo.; Interior Communications Electrician 1st Class Abraham Lopez, 39, from El Paso, Texas; Electronics Technician 2nd Class Kevin Sayer Bushell, 26, from Gaithersburg, Md.; Electronics Technician 2nd Class Jacob Daniel Drake, 21, from Cable, Ohio; Information Systems Technician 2nd Class Timothy Thomas Eckels Jr., 23, from Manchester, Md.; Information Systems Technician 2nd Class Corey George Ingram, 28, from Poughkeepsie, N.Y.; Electronics Technician 3rd Class Dustin Louis Doyon, 26, from Suffield, Conn.; Electronics Technician 3rd Class John Henry Hoagland III, 20, from Killeen, Texas; Interior Communications Electrician 3rd Class Logan Stephen Palmer, 23, from Decatur, Ill., and Electronics Technician 3rd Class, Kenneth Aaron Smith, 22, from Cherry Hill, N.J.

After the incident, Vice Adm. Joseph Aucoin, 7th Fleet commander, was relieved of his command, weeks before his planned retirement.

The incident was the fourth time this year that a U.S. Navy warship was involved in a collision in Asia.

In June, the USS Fitzgerald, another destroyer, collided with a merchant vessel off the coast of Japan. Seven U.S. Navy personnel died. In January, the guided missile cruiser USS Antietam ran aground near Yokosuka, Japan. USS Lake Champlain, another guided missile destroyer, struck a fishing boat in international waters off the Korean Peninsula four months later.