A depressing story

[edschweppe]

Two submarine Sailors died today after falling overboard from the USS Minneapolis-St Paul (SSN 708) as she was steaming out of Plymouth, England:

Two crew members of an American submarine have died after falling overboard in Plymouth Sound.

They were among four crewmen who were working in poor weather on the outside casing of the USS Minneapolis-St Paul off the Devon coast.

Working on the deck of an underway submarine is no picnic under the best of circumstances - and those weren't anywhere near the best of circumstances. CNN's story indicates that the wind was gusting up to 47 miles per hour.
I don't know anybody from the Minneapolis, but she's a first-flight Los Angeles class boat, just like the one I served on (USS Omaha).

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/devon/6217471.stm
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/12/29/uk.us.sailors.die.ap/index.html
http://www.news.navy.mil/search/display.asp?story_id=27209