Navy Shifts to Recovery After 43 Hours Searching for Missing Marine
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The U.S. Navy formally transitioned from search-and-rescue to search-and-recovery operations for a Marine who went missing from the USS Anchorage, a move that carries grim and unambiguous meaning: the Navy no longer believes it will find the service member alive. The Marine disappeared at approximately 1:20 a.m. on Thursday, June 26th, during an integrated training exercise involving the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit out of Camp Pendleton and the Makin Island Amphibious Ready Group off the Southern California coast.
After more than 43 hours of active rescue efforts, the Navy made the formal transition around 9 p.m. Friday night. NBC Los Angeles confirmed the recovery operation was still actively underway as of early Sunday morning. The Marine's identity has not been publicly released, standard practice until next of kin are notified.
The USS Anchorage is homeported in San Diego, meaning the ship's crew members live in the community and their families are present in the city. Questions about how a Marine goes missing from a vessel during a nighttime training exercise — not a combat deployment — will be answered through the Navy's ongoing investigation. What is known is that dozens of sailors and Marines, search aircraft, and support vessels spent nearly two full days attempting to locate the service member before the transition to recovery was declared.