The USS Shiloh sailor who sparked a massive three-day coalition search after officials believed he had fallen overboard only to be discovered hiding aboard is now facing court-martial.
Stars & Stripes reports Petty Officer 3rd Class Peter Mims, who served as a gas turbine systems technician on the Yokosuka-based guided-missile cruiser, has been held in the Marine Corps Air Station Miramar Brig since June 21 in anticipation of possible court martial charges.
Navy spokesman Cmdr. Clay Doss told Stars & Stripes in email further details will be released pending an investigation but added that early indications are that Mims was actively trying to avoid sailors who were searching for him on the ship.
Doss said the investigation is expected to conclude mid-July.
Mims’ disappearance prompted a coalition, 50-hour search-and-rescue effort off the coast of Japan that included; Japanese Coast Guard and naval forces; helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft from the carrier Ronald Reagan along with a Navy P-8 maritime patrol aircraft; the destroyers John S. McCain and McCampbell and the Reagan itself, according to release from U.S. 7th Fleet during the search.
Mims was thought missing at 9:30 p.m. June 8 and was presumed to have fallen overboard the Shiloh. Officials suspended the search, which covered more than 5,500 square miles of water off Japan, June 11, with the presumption that he was lost at sea.
According to the Stars & Stripes, Shiloh’s crew was in the process of planning a memorial service for Mims when he was found in the ship’s engineering room, according to Navy statements.
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