Political and Legislative
Lawmakers and Advocates Demand Answers Following a String of Deaths on a Navy Aircraft Carrier
After seven deaths in a year among the crew of a single aircraft carrier, including three suicides in just more than a week, lawmakers and advocates are demanding answers from the Navy.
The USS George Washington, a Nimitz-class nuclear-powered carrier, has been at the Newport News, Va., shipyard since 2017 for a midlife, multiyear refueling and complex overhaul.
Between last year and April, seven sailors assigned to it have died, four of them being apparent or confirmed suicides. After a CBS News report on the deaths, a spokesperson for the Navy told The Hill that there were three additional suicides before 2021 — in November 2019, July 2020 and October 2020.
