Explosion Kills 1 On Uss Nimitz

An accident aboard the USS Nimitz late Friday night killed one person and injured two, one of them seriously, a ship spokesman said.

The three sailors were working on an engine that’s linked to the tailhooks that catch planes landing on the aircraft carrier when a piston shot out of the engine, Nimitz spokesman Dave Youngquist said.

He said the engine suffered a “catastrophic failure.”

The names of the sailors were not immediately available, nor were any additional details on the accident.

The nuclear-powered aircraft carrier is finishing up an overhaul at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard here, shipyard spokesman John Gordon said earlier.