9 hospitalized after Coast Guard and Navy vessels collide near Kodiak

Six Coast Guard servicemembers and three U.S. Navy sailors were hospitalized in Kodiak on Wednesday evening after a Coast Guard and Navy vessel collision, according to a statement released by Coast Guard Public Affairs late Wednesday night.

The collision occurred around 7:30 p.m in Women’s Bay, according to Coast Guard Public Affairs Lt. Comm. Scott McCann. All six servicemembers aboard the the Coast Guard vessel were transported to the Providence Kodiak Island Medical Center with apparently fairly minor injuries.

“The injuries were to the extent that our Coast Guard members were released from the hospital last night,” McCann said.

According to Kodiak Fire Department Chief Jim Mullican, one injured servicemember was medevaced to Anchorage at 11:30 p.m. on Wednesday night. The medevaced individual was likely one of the three Navy sailors.

In an emailed statement, Naval Special Warfare Command Lt. Matthew Stroup said that the injured Navy sailors are in stable condition.

McCann confirmed that the two vessels were Coast Guard and Navy “small boats.” The Coast Guard small boat was a 38 ft. special purpose training boat.

The Navy boat was a Naval Special Warfare (NSW) combatant craft, according to Stroup.

The collision caused damages to both boats, but details around the cause of the collision remain unclear, said McCann. “We will be doing an investigation into who was at fault and why it happened and what type of damage was sustained to both boats,” he said, adding that such investigations can take weeks to months to complete.

Both the Coast Guard and Navy vessels involved are now moored at the Coast Guard base, but it’s also unclear how they made it back to port.

According to McCann, the Coast Guard small boat was coming back from performing hoisting exercises with a Coast Guard helicopter, a part of routine search and rescue training. The Navy boat was not involved in the Coast Guard training exercise, though Stroup’s statement did say it was completing “routine training operations” when the collision occurred.

 

This story has been updated.