A stealthy U.S. Navy fighter has been recovered from the bottom of the South China Sea after crashing into the deck of the aircraft carrier Carl Vinson and splashing into the sea in January, the Navy announced Thursday.
A Navy salvage team from the Japan-based 7th Fleet and the Naval Sea Systems Command, working from the contracted construction vessel Picasso, brought the wreckage of the F-35C Lightning II to the surface Wednesday by using a remotely-operated submarine to attach the jet to the ship's crane, the Navy said in a news release.
The Navy said the wreckage will be taken to a nearby military facility for inspection amid the ongoing investigation into the Jan. 24 crash.
A video leaked by Carl Vinson sailors shows the jet slamming into the flight deck of the ship and skidding forward along the deck in flames before plunging overboard. The pilot ejected mid-skid, the video shows.
Seven sailors were injured, including the pilot. All have since returned to duty.
The Vinson, which returned to San Diego last month, was conducting "routine" operations in the area, the Navy said. Photos published by the service in the days ahead of the crash showed the ship was working alongside another San Diego-based carrier — the Abraham Lincoln — conducting what the Navy called dual-carrier operations with each ship's complement of F-35Cs.
The near-constant presence of U.S. warships in the South China Sea reflects the Pacific Fleet's stated operational priority — ensuring a "free and open Indo-Pacific," as the 7th Fleet said in its release.
This story originally appeared in San Diego Union-Tribune.
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