He had to stay afloat, and was likely trained to know how to make 'water wings' out of his pants (knot pant legs - capture air, put under arms.)
But, even with good training, a sailor in the water is very hard to see from on board a ship in any kind of surface chop. Most likely he was spotted from an aircraft.
What I really want to know is how he happened to fall overboard... because that just doesn't happen very often, unless a sailor is doing something awfully dumb.
Report says they are investigating. I will post when the media reports it.
Having done many searches for a PIW (person in the water) back in my CG days... this is nothing short of a miracle. A person floating the water is a tiny, tiny thing. It’s almost impossible to spot, especially from the air. Even when you know where to look... the chances of being seen are just abysmally small.
I have a friend who’s an ex-sailor. He tells about being chosen by his shipmates go the the coke machine which was on a flight deck of some kind. The ship was going through VERY rough seas, with 30 foot swells. One came up unexpectedly and nearly washed him overboard—he was only saved by grabbing a rail of some kind with one hand.
I have a friend who’s an ex-sailor. He tells about being chosen by his shipmates go the the coke machine which was on a flight deck of some kind. The ship was going through VERY rough seas, with 30 foot swells. One came up unexpectedly and nearly washed him overboard—he was only saved by grabbing a rail of some kind with one hand.
Later he transferred into submarine duty...