Navy finds no link in series of suicides by carrier crew

By LOLITA C. BALDOR
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Three suicides by sailors assigned to a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier were not connected, but the poor quality of life onboard was a “contributing factor” in one of the deaths. Those are the conclusions of a new Navy report released Monday. The suicides, which all happened within one week in April while the USS George Washington was docked at the shipyard in Newport News, Virginia, triggered questions about whether they knew each other or that something similar, associated with their jobs or the ship, had caused them. The report concludes that while all three were assigned to the same ship, they had no social or working relationships with each other.