The U.S. Navy has reached a 10-year high for accidents on board ships and in aviation as the pace of operations has increased since the beginning of the Trump administration.
Many of the ships on the list are from Hampton Roads. A fire on board the USS Gerald Ford left at least two sailors injured on the carrier during the early months of the war with Iran. Cmdr. Gabriel Edwards was killed on July 1 during a helicopter crash on the USS George HW Bush, after the carrier replaced the Ford in the North Arabian Sea in April.
Lance Cpl. Chukwuemeka Oforah, a 21-year-old Marine infantry rifleman, died after falling overboard Feb. 7 from the USS Iwo Jima. A Marine was declared dead after a three-day search in the Caribbean. He was the first American military death attributed to on-going operations around Venezuela, where the administration has said they are targeting suspected drug boats.
The USS Truxton collided with a supply ship in the Caribbean in February, shortly after leaving Norfolk. The destroyer had just returned from a previous deployment before being quickly turned around and sent back to sea.
In September, a jet was lost off of the USS Dwight Eisenhower while the carrier was training off the coast of Virginia Beach. On its last deployment before arriving in Norfolk, the USS Nimitz lost two aircraft in the South China Sea within less than an hour in October 2025.
All of the deaths remain under investigation. The Navy figures for fiscal year 2026, which ended at the end of September, shows 16 major mishaps involving planes and 11 major incidents involving ships at sea. Both figures are the highest number of accidents in a decade.
The report from Naval Safety Command does not list a root cause but operational tempo has been high. Navy leadership, including Chief of Naval Operations Adml. Daryl Caudle, has warned that the pace of deployment is impacting both sailors and their equipment.
