HS-5 crew rescues civilian diver off of east coast of Florida

A civilian diver diving approximately 60 miles off the east coast of Florida became lost and unable to make it back to his boat. He was reported as missing after not checking in with his friends. The U.S. Coast Guard and Navy were immediately notified. In an effort to expedite the search, USS Theodore Roosevelt called upon HS-5 to assist with the search and rescue effort.

After being notified at 5:10 p.m., the airborne helicopter landed to take fuel and departed the ship at 5:25 p.m. The last known position of the diver was approximately 40 miles away from the ship's current location.

At 5:50 p.m., the crew comprised of Lt. Brian Johnson, Lt. Jack Reiner, AW2 Philip Corrick and AW2 Christina Gruwell, arrived on station and began searching. It lasted less than five minutes, after which time the diver was spotted wearing a red dry suit waving his hands.

By 6 p.m., he was safely aboard the helicopter en route to NAS Jacksonville. Medical personnel were waiting on the crew to attend to the rescued diver who had spent approximately three to four hours in the water. As a result he was cold, tired and hungry.

The search effort was coordinated between the Navy and Coast Guard helicopters with each helicopter splitting search area. HS-5's crew used the direct deployment method to recover the survivor, saving valuable time.

This is a fairly new recovery method where the swimmer stays hooked to the hoist while the helicopter is positioned in a hover directly over the survivor.

As always, time is of the essence in these situations. In another 30 minutes, the sun would have set making the search and recovery much more difficult and dangerous.

"This relatively junior crew went out and performed superbly today and saved a life. I couldn't be more proud of them. By the time the crew landed in Jax it was dark and they had been flying for almost seven hours," remarked HS-5 Commanding Officer Cmdr. Roy Undersander.

The success of the rescue effort is a testament to the hard work, professionalism and dedication of these young Sailors which was evident as they were recently awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal by USS Theodore Roosevelt Commanding Officer Capt. Ladd Wheeler.