Navy Public Affairs Center News

Machinist's Mate 3rd Class Derrick Lines guides "Super Scorpio", a remote operated vehicle into position for safe recovery aboard the special mission charter ship M/V Kellie Chouest. Petty Officer Lines is assigned to Deep Submergence Unit Unmanned Vehicle Detachment, tasked with surveying the wreckage of an F-14D Tomcat that crashed off the coast of Point Loma, Calif. Kellie Chouest is one of four Submarine Support Vessels belonging to the Military Sealift Command Special Mission Ships Program. U.S. Navy photo by Photographer's Mate 1st Class Daniel N. Woods. By Journalist Seaman Cynthia R.

Members from the San Diego-based Unmanned Vehicles Detachment (UMV) embarked aboard the 310-ft. MV Kellie Chouest, a research and salvage vessel, April 25 to recover an F-14D Tomcat that had recently crashed in the waters off of San Diego. The Tomcat was from Fighter Squadron (VF) 31, based at Naval Air Station Oceana, Va. The two crew members of the aircraft ejected safely before the crash and sustained minor injuries. They were on a training mission from the Nimitz-class carrier USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74), homeported in San Diego. According to Lt. Cmdr. Chuck McGuire, the officer in charge (OIC) of UMV, the recovery was scheduled to take a week to complete. The unit's highly sophisticated unmanned vehicles were designed to help speed up the under-water search and recovery.