The US Navy received some troubling news on Sunday: two of its aircraft came down in the South China Sea in isolated incidents. Fortunately, the crew members of both aircraft were rescued and their condition is assessed as stable.
Two USA Navy aircraft from the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz – a Sea Hawk helicopter and an F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jet – crashed during separate “routine operations” over the South China Sea on Sunday, with all five crew members rescued and in stable condition as the Navy investigates both incidents.
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About 30 minutes after the helicopter incident F/A-18F Super Hornet from the Nimitz, assigned to the Fighting Reds of the 22nd Strike Fighter Squadron, also crashed in the South China Sea while on mission.
The incidents come as the Navy moves its assets to the Caribbean as tensions between the US and Venezuela rise.
The US Pacific Fleet shared information about the incidents through its X account on Sunday evening.
South China Sea – On October 26, 2025, at approximately 14:45 local time, a US Navy MH-60R Sea Hawk helicopter assigned to the “Battle Cats” of Helicopter Strike Squadron (HSM) 73 sank in the waters of the South China Sea while conducting routine operations.
— US Pacific Fleet (@USPacificFleet) October 26, 2025
From this topic:
South China Sea – On October 26, 2025, at approximately 2:45 p.m. local time, a U.S. Navy MH-60R Sea Hawk helicopter assigned to the “Battle Cats” of Helicopter Strike Squadron (HSM) 73 sank in the waters of the South China Sea while conducting routine operations from the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN). 68). Search and rescue assets assigned to Carrier Strike Group 11 returned all three crew members safely.
Separately, at 3:15 p.m., an F/A-18F Super Hornet assigned to the 22nd Strike Fighter Squadron's “Fighting Redcocks” also crashed into the waters of the South China Sea while conducting routine operations out of Nimitz Air Force Base. Both crew members successfully ejected and were also safely recovered by search and rescue assets assigned to Carrier Strike Group 11.
All personnel involved are safe and stable.
The causes of both incidents are currently under investigation.
The fact that these two incidents occurred in such a short period of time certainly raises many questions that hopefully the investigation(s) will soon answer.
As a reminder, the USS Harry Truman recently suffered a string of misfortunes, including a collision with a merchant ship that resulted in its commander being relieved of duty, the loss of a valuable F/A-18 fighter jet overboard, and another F/A-18 lost in what was called a “botched arrest.”
READ MORE: USS Aircraft Carrier Loses Another Fighter: What's Happening to the Harry Truman?
This is a developing story. RedState will provide further updates as more information becomes available.
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