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After 23 years of service and four Battle Efficiency awards, the submarine USS Minneapolis-St. Paul will be decommissioned today in a ceremony at Naval Station Norfolk, Va. The Los Angeles-class attack sub has been involved in 12 deployments since it was commissioned, the most recent being a six-month deployment to the North Atlantic. It has visited 26 different ports in its life span. It was the first submarine to carry Tomahawk missiles in Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm in the first Persian Gulf War. The Minneapolis-St Paul was built in 1984. It is 360 feet long, 33 feet wide...

Dead US submarine crew are named The nuclear-powered submarine is based at Norfolk, Virginia The United States Navy has named two of its submarine servicemen who died after falling overboard in UK waters. They were among four crewmen who were working in poor weather on the outside casing of the USS Minneapolis-St Paul in Plymouth Sound, Devon, on Friday. The men were taken to hospital, where two of them were pronounced dead. The dead men were named as Senior Chief Thomas Higgins, 45, of Paducah, Kentucky, and Petty Officer 2nd Class Michael Holtz, 30, of Lakewood, Ohio. The US...

Two U.S. sailors die after falling from submarine 13 minutes ago Two U.S. sailors were killed on Friday after falling overboard from a submarine as it was leaving the southern English port of Plymouth, the U.S. Navy said. Two other sailors who fell overboard from the nuclear-powered USS Minneapolis-St. Paul suffered minor injuries but were later released from hospital, a spokesman for the U.S. Navy's 6th fleet said.

The Navy announced Friday it relieved the commander of a nuclear submarine that was involved in an incident that killed two sailors. On Dec. 29, rough seas swept four American sailors from the deck of the submarine off the coast of southwestern England. The USS-Minneapolis-St. Paul was leaving Plymouth harbor when the sailors were knocked into the water by surging waves. The four men were taken to a hospital in Plymouth, where two were pronounced dead. According to officials, an initial review determined the incident was avoidable and due in part to a poor decision by the commander. A formal...

The Navy announced today that punitive letters of reprimand have been issued to the commanding and executive officers of a Norfolk-based submarine that lost two sailors in a fatal accident. The sailors died Dec. 29 after the Minneapolis-St. Paul pulled away from its mooring at the Devonport Naval Base in southern England. They were among four men swept overboard in heavy seas while working on the deck as the boat headed for the English Channel. Senior Chief Petty Officer Thomas Higgins, 45, the chief of the boat, or “cob,” and Petty Officer 2nd class Michael Holtz, 30, perished in the...

The deaths of two sailors who were swept overboard a submarine on which they served are the first such fatalities in six years, according to one Navy official. During that same time period, four other sailors who had fallen overboard were plucked successfully from the waters. “Aside from the deaths on the Minneapolis-St. Paul, there have been no fatalities since [fiscal] 2000 involving submarine sailors falling overboard,” said April Phillips, a spokeswoman with the Naval Safety Center in Virginia. On Dec. 29, Senior Chief Petty Officer Thomas Higgins, 45, and Petty Officer 2nd Class Michael Holtz, 30, were killed after...

RAF MILDENHALL, England — British police said Tuesday that safety lines played a role in the death of two U.S. sailors swept off the deck of the USS Minneapolis-St. Paul by fierce seas in Plymouth Harbor on Friday. “It would look to be a contributing factor,” Devon and Cornwall Constabulary Sgt. Detective Richard Bailey said of the safety lines. “It’s an aspect of the inquiry.” Bailey said the two sailors who survived the accident were either not attached to the vessel with safety lines or had lines that allowed them to drift from the nuclear-powered submarine. The two sailors who...

CLEVELAND (AP) -- The mother of an Ohio sailor who was killed when rough seas swept him from the deck of a U.S. nuclear submarine says her son was a quiet, unselfish man who enjoyed helping others and loved the Navy. Famiy photoPetty Officer Second Class Michael Holtz died when rough seas swept him from the deck of his submarine. 30-year-old Petty Officer Second Class Michael Holtz of Lakewood, Ohio was one of four sailors knocked off the Norfolk-based USS Minneapolis-Saint Paul as it was leaving the Devonport Naval Base in Plymouth, England on Friday. His mother, Rosemary Holtz of...