Submariner Lost In Boating Accident Off Oahu
From this Navy Times article:
Navy officials on Monday identified as a sailor the body of a man found Saturday afternoon off a Hawaii beach a day after reports that a man in a life raft was stuck in heavy surf.Very tragic. My heart goes out to the whole Olympia family.
Electrician’s Mate 1st Class (SS) Robert L. Mudd, 29, was a crewmember assigned to fast attack submarine Olympia at Pearl Harbor Naval Base in Hawaii, Navy Submarine Force-Pacific officials said in a news release. Mudd, of Fort Mitchell, Ken., had enlisted in the Navy in 1998 and had served with ballistic submarine Nebraska’s Gold crew and at the Trident Training Facility in Kings Bay, Ga., before he joined Olympia in May 2007...
... Lt. Cmdr. Dave Benham, Navy Submarine Force-Pacific spokesman, said Mudd’s command reported him missing on Saturday when the sailor did not report for duty, “before they knew what had occurred.” Mudd subsequently was identified, and his family was notified, Benham said.
The Olympia crew plans to remember Mudd at a memorial service planned for later this week at Submarine Memorial Chapel at Pearl Harbor, according to Submarine Forces-Pacific officials.
posted by Bubblehead at 2:42 PM
21 Comments:
The boating accident was on the other side of the island off Marine Corps Base Kaneohe.
May he rest in peace.
3/09/2010 2:57 PM
Thanks. Fixed the title.
3/09/2010 3:00 PM
My condolences to family, friends and shipmates. Rest your oar, shipmate.
3/09/2010 4:01 PM
I know it's cold, but being a former submariner I gotta ask, has the cooler washed ashore yet?
3/10/2010 3:43 PM
You're right...that IS cold. The OPREP-3 alluded to a distress call and flares sighted, which led to the search. Doesn't sound alcohol-related to me at all. Sounds like someone who went down swinging.
3/10/2010 3:51 PM
I don't get it - the story said he was in a "life raft" and that he was found wearing scuba gear. Is there a missing boat somewhere? Or did he take a life raft out in the surf to go diving?
3/10/2010 4:23 PM
Story seems incomplete but who knows?
3/10/2010 4:46 PM
The duty section was probably pissed!
3/10/2010 6:01 PM
As someone who actually knew him, from his command, this is what happened: He was moving his boat from Kaneohe to Rainbow Bay. The boat capsized, and he was okay, at first... He managed to set off flares and transmit a distress signal. He got into his life vest and flippers and was still fine. However, when they came in for a helo rescue (because the surf was too choppy for a boat) they dropped him on the way up. They weren't able to find him after he went under the water. Divers were sent in, but to no avail. He was found washed up on shore several hours later with a large gash on his forehead. The best hypothesis right now is that he got dragged by an undertow and slammed against a reef headfirst. If he didn't drown from being under, then the knock to the head did it. His service is Thursday the 11th of March at 1300 at the subbase chapel to those who wish to give their condolences.
3/11/2010 1:09 AM
Mike,
Thanks for the update. Sympathies are with all of you this day in Hawaii.
COB
3/11/2010 3:20 AM
These tragedies impact everyone in one way or another on a crew. Thoughts, condolences and prayers for his family and the crew.
3/11/2010 4:33 AM
As someone who spends a lot of time on the water around Oahu I just can't figure out why he was on the water that day. We have had small craft advisories all week long due to the heavy trades. Such a shame. ORM people...use ORM it even works off the boat.
3/12/2010 12:07 AM
Well there are some people with raised eyebrows asking that same question right now. According to the deceased himself earlier in the week he had just increased his policy on his boat by quite a substantial amount, up to a million in coverage. Everyone was well aware of the frequent "no sail/no surf" warnings being put out for the past week. Quite a few are thinking that this might have been an attempt at insurance fraud, gone horribly awry. He was known to have champagne tastes on an enlisted navy budget, so it is possible that he had overextended himself and was desperate to get out of trouble. Either way, whether it was a botched attempt of a scam, or a genuine accident, it is still an unfortunate, and unnecessary loss.
3/12/2010 1:58 AM
The whole speculation seems uncalled for with the loss of life and indeterminate facts. There used to be a time when people were caught in extremis and things were kept on the low down to protect the innocent but now it seems everyone thinks they have some kind of inherent right to spread scuttle, partially true or otherwise. It seems that maybe the Silent Service might consider the silent part with more discretion and sensitivity to the survivors. Just an opinion from an older bubblehead.
3/12/2010 9:47 AM
Everybody shhhh...
3/12/2010 10:51 AM
Hot wife?
We used to have a guy that looked for that sort of thing. Get a woman when she was weak.
He was pretty good at it but had to stop when he got married....to the wife of a cousin who passed away!
3/12/2010 4:50 PM
If he was moving his boat to Rainbow Marina, then he was required to have the $1million insurance policy.
3/13/2010 9:45 AM
Sailor, Rest your oar.
3/16/2010 7:21 PM
I knew Rob from back in KY.....He was a good man. RIP brother.
3/21/2011 10:51 PM
Thanks for this post, pretty effective piece of writing.
8/30/2012 8:30 PM
I knew Rob from TTF Kings Bay. I worked beside him every day (in a division of 5 guys initially, which eventually went down to 3) for a little over 2 years. He was a great guy. A little quirky, but then what submariner isn't a little bit crazy? We lost touch when he transferred to Hawaii, so I didn't find out about this right away. I was/am deeply saddened by this. He was a good friend. RIP, brother.
4/08/2013 11:05 PM
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