The number of major accidents in Navy and Marine aviation nearly doubled in 2025 from the previous year, though only two sailors were killed in a flying accident, according to fleet-wide safety statistics released this week. Accidents among sailors and Marines underway on warships dropped slightly.
Naval Safety Command released its year-end data on accidents, deaths and injuries across both services this week, covering the 2025 fiscal year, from October 2024 to September 2025. The report cited 14 “Class-A” aviation accidents in 2025, up from eight in 2024. Mishaps aboard underway ships, which include warships, submarines, and sealift vessels, remained rare, dropping from nine to five.
The military classifies a Class-A accident as any that involves a death or permanent disability, or damage to equipment worth more than $2.5 million.
Of the 14 aviation mishaps, 12 were during flight and four appeared to be related to combat in the Red Sea. Another four onboard mishaps also appeared linked to the Red Sea, including a collision involving the USS Truman aircraft carrier.
The Marines’ class-A mishaps also doubled in 2025 to six from three in 2024. All six incidents involving Marine aircraft appeared to be during typical training or maintenance, with no injuries.
The only aviation deaths in either service were the pilot and weapons officer of a Navy EA-18G Growler that crashed on a training flight in October 2024.
Lt. Cmdr. Lyndsay “Miley” Evans and Lt. Serena “Dug” Wileman, both 31, were killed in the Oct. 15 crash on Mount Rainier, about 180 miles from their home base of Naval Air Station Whidbey Island. Rescuers battled bad weather and steep terrain for several days to reach the crash site.
USS Truman combat deployment saw increased risks
The Navy’s class-A accidents include four mishaps that list the region as “location withheld” but with dates and descriptions that match known incidents from the USS Truman strike group’s combat deployment in the Red Sea. A December 2024 incident is described as an F/A-18F “struck by friendly fire, both aircrew ejected safely,” while a May 2025 note describes another F/A-18 lost when the crew overshot a carrier landing. Two others from the same time period were fairly minor in-flight or ground mishaps.
Retired Navy Capt. Bradley Martin, now a senior policy researcher at the RAND Corporation, said the jump in mishaps was at least in part due to the demands of sustained combat.
“I think it was the Truman Strike Group operating in a very high tempo,” Martin told Task & Purpose. “I think [this] is an indication that a ship and a strike group that’s been operated at a very high level for a long time is likely to experience more mishaps. Part of it is just because there’s more chance to have to have them, but also there’s no question that the extended deployment, the material degradations and so forth, are going to have that kind of impact.”
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Missing from the report, however, is any mention of an F/A-18 the Navy said was lost overboard from the Truman during heavy maneuvering in April while under attack from Houthi missiles. A question sent by Task & Purpose to Naval Safety Command about the reporting of that mishap was not returned.
Martin said extended deployments like the Truman wear on every part of a ship and air wing, from tired pilots to worn non-slip coverings on deck.
“There were a lot of fatigue conditions that were taking place, human and material,” he said. “And I think even though it’s not a huge number, I think that the Navy really needs to look at that and say we saw a direct and fairly obvious connection between the Truman’s long deployment and a series of accidents.”
