The U.S. Navy publicly released the identity of a deceased sailor assigned to the USS Theodore Roosevelt who went missing last week after going overboard.
The family of Ethan Garrett Goolsby, a 20-year-old U.S. Navy aviation ordnanceman airman apprentice from Texas, was notified before officials ended a search and rescue mission on Dec. 12 without finding the sailor, according to a statement.
Goolsby went missing on Dec. 10 and multiple agencies, including the U.S. Coast Guard, spent over 55 hours, covering 607 square nautical miles, in an effort to safely return the sailor who went overboard from the Nimitz-class nuclear-powered aircraft carrier.
“The ship initiated search and rescue procedures after a lookout spotted what appeared to be a person in the water,” the U.S. Navy wrote in a statement after they launched the search and rescue mission.
“Three search and rescue helicopters and a rigid hull inflatable boat were launched in response, and one sailor was unaccounted for during a command-wide muster,” it added.
#USNavy Identifies USS Theodore Roosevelt Sailor after ending search and changing his status to deceased on Dec. 12.
Fair winds and following seas, Shipmate. We will continue the watch.
Details: ➡️ https://t.co/iEILDTYw1R
— U.S. Navy (@USNavy) December 14, 2020
Goolsby had been with the U.S. Navy for about a year and reported to the USS Theodore Roosevelt in July after completing his initial training as an aviation ordnanceman in Florida, officials said. He was promoted in September to his current rank.
Captain Eric Anduze, the commanding officer of the USS Theodore Roosevelt, said the loss of Goolsby “is felt deeply by all on board.”
“The entire Theodore Roosevelt team sends our deepest condolences to the family of our missing shipmate,” the captain said in a Dec. 13 statement, one day after the U.S. Navy stopped search efforts and pronounced the missing sailor deceased.
Rear Adm. Doug Verissimo, the commander from Carrier Strike Group Nine, also sent his condolences to the sailor’s family, friends, and fellow sailors.
“The Carrier Strike Group Nine team sends our thoughts and prayers to the family and loved ones of our missing shipmate. I offer my thanks to all the sailors and coast guardsmen who were involved in the search,” the admiral said.
The sailor’s father, Kelly Goolsby, said on Facebook his son was very proud to be part of the U.S. Navy and it had had a positive impact on him.
“Military service is a tradition in the Goolsby family and Ethan was eager to join the U.S. Navy,” his father said.
“The U.S. Navy helped make him into a more self-assured, thoughtful, and diligent young man. We want people to remember Ethan’s kind heart, warm sense of humor, his desire to serve his country, and all other aspects of his short life,” he continued.
Officials said how the sailor went overboard remains under investigation.
Goolsby was last seen on the aircraft carrier between 7 and 7:15 a.m. on Dec. 10 for morning quarters after working the night shift, according to his father’s post.
