Herald staff
The Navy has called off the search for the missing sailor from the USS Abraham Lincoln, Navy officials said Monday.
"He is missing, presumed lost at sea," said Cmdr. Jack Papp, spokesman for the Pacific naval air forces in San Diego.
The sailor, Petty Officer Third Class Joseph K. Kauffmann of St. Louis, Mo., has been missing since Jan. 25. The Everett-based carrier was on maneuvers off the Southern California coast at the time Kauffmann was discovered missing.
Kauffmann, 20, was assigned to Carrier Air Wing 14 staff, and was discovered missing during a routine muster of department personnel. His supervisors immediately started a search of his living and working areas, but when that search came up empty, the crew of the Lincoln started its "man overboard" procedures and started a space-to-space search aboard the aircraft carrier, Papp said.
Ships and aircraft from the USS Abraham Lincoln Battle Group, and the Coast Guard, began searching a 2,700-square-mile area around where the carrier battle group and its air wing were conducting regularly scheduled exercises.
The search stretched for more than 36 hours and was officially suspended at 6 p.m. Sunday.
The Navy has already contacted Kauffmann’s family. An investigation into his disappearance is underway, Papp said.
The Lincoln, a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier and the largest warship in the world, was about 90 miles west of San Diego at the time of the incident. The carrier has a crew of about 2,700 sailors and is based in Everett. Carrier Air Wing 14 is based at Naval Air Station Lemoore, about 280 miles northeast of San Diego.
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