Missing sailor who hid on USS Shiloh was found filthy, carrying Peeps candy

[jollyjacktar]

The man has troubles...

Missing sailor who hid on USS Shiloh was found filthy, carrying Peeps candy, report says

A USS Shiloh sailor who was presumed to be lost at sea and hid in the ship's engine room for a week in June was found "covered in urine and feces, and had a camelback, a multi-tool, Peeps candy and an empty peanut butter jar with him," according to a Navy Times report.

Peter Mims, who was a gas turbine systems technician on the Yokosuka, Japan-based guided-missile cruiser, was the focus of a wide-ranging sea search after he was reported missing on June 8. U.S. and Japanese ships spent more than 50 hours searching for him, assisted by aircraft. He was assumed lost at sea, and the search was suspended June 11. The crew was planning a memorial service for him when he was found on June 15, the Navy said.

The Navy Times story drew on a Freedom of Information Act request for documents such as the command investigation and witness statements. The documents say Mims wanted to leave the Navy. They also outline some of the stressors in his life, including having filed for divorce, financial troubles and poor morale on the ship.

Other details include information from the investigation about statements Mims made about himself, including that "he could stop running engineering department engines by pulsating electricity with his body, that he could shoot fireballs out of his hands, that he had a friend who had a motorcycle with the same engine as the ship, that he had been to space, and that before the Navy he was going to work for NASA because he had reached the pinnacle of how strong a human could be.”

https://www.stripes.com/news/missing-sailor-who-hid-on-uss-shiloh-was-found-filthy-carrying-peeps-candy-report-says-1.504910

 

[Oldgateboatdriver]

I wonder if the command investigation addressed the inefficiency the ship's company in searching it's own ship. If you can't locate one crackpot in the engine room for one week, how are you ever going to find anything down there that is not supposed to be there (like a bomb, for instance)?

 

[jollyjacktar]

At the very least the Engineering Roundsmen on watch are not doing correct rounds.  Lots of knuckles need to be cracked.

 

[medicineman]

Be interested in how long his (possible) schizophrenia had been manifesting without anybody noticing too...

MM

 

[Jarnhamar]

Funny that shit covered peeps loving crazy American sailors can get a mythical camelbak but Canadian soldiers are still going without since 20'000 of them are "being saved" for deployment.

 

[Blackadder1916]

A few snippets from Navy Times that provided the info found in the Stripes piece quoted in the OP.  Some interesting speculation about morale and esprit de corps on the ship can be made.

https://www.navytimes.com/news/your-navy/2017/12/30/exclusive-how-peter-mims-spent-a-week-hiding-in-a-warships-engine-room/

. . .  He’d sought mental health counseling, but was not treated when he needed it most. . . .

. . . A week after he disappeared — and after his family was notified of his presumed death — a search crew found him hiding in an escape passage leading out of a sweltering engine room.

Mims could have been apprehended prior to his discovery when another sailor spotted him in the middle of the night, days earlier. But that sailor just went back to sleep instead of sounding the alarm.

 

[Kat Stevens]

They should have been able to smell him long before they found him.

 

[Inspir]

Section 8

 

[Oldgateboatdriver]

Only if he is wearing a dress and high heels while doing all that.

;D

 

[Blackadder1916]

https://nypost.com/2018/01/02/missing-navy-sailor-spent-a-week-hiding-in-his-own-filth/

Missing Navy sailor spent a week hiding in his own filth

By Max Jaeger  January 2, 2018 | 3:34pm

Seaman Peter Mims was found covered in excrement and clutching a water bottle, a multitool, the Easter candy Peeps and an empty peanut butter jar when shipmates discovered him in the bowels of the USS Shiloh, according to the Navy Times.

Mims failed to check in during a night-watch shift June 8, sparking a shipwide search as officials feared he had thrown himself overboard.

Even before his disappearance, Mims had acted erratically, telling shipmates he had traveled to outer space and could shoot fireballs from his hands.

But documents obtained by the Navy Times show how Capt. Adam Aycock refused three times to call for a man-overboard search, despite urging from Mims’ supervisors and the fact that a 60-pound weighted vest was missing from the ship.

“The CO (Aycock) stated GSM3 Mims, ‘didn’t kill himself. He’s still on the ship,’ ” an investigation report states, according to the Navy Times.

Aycock eventually initiated the water search and ordered the Shiloh to return to the area of the Philippine Sea where Mims first went missing an hour-and-a-half after Mims disappeared.

Mims surfaced four days later — when a fellow sailor found him covered in rust and filling up a 34-gallon water bag in a lounge area at 4 a.m. June 12.

“Mims stated he believed people were trying to kill him, that he had not defecated since going into hiding,” according to the report.

The sailor did not turn Mims in, fearing the 150-pound rogue military man “could physically beat him in a fight,” the report states.

Instead, the sailor took a 90-minute nap before telling anyone he talked to Mims — and even when he did finally relay that he found him, superiors said he had “credibility problems” because officials were in the middle of disciplining him for an unrelated matter.

A subsequent search turned up a urine-filled water bottle in a secluded engine room, but Mims was not found.

Crew got close June 13 but avoided a section of the engine room where Mims was hiding because it was too hot and smelly.

“(Main engine room) 2 catacombs were not cleared because of overwhelming smells, assumed at the time to be fuel and oil, but later assessed to be urine and feces,” the investigators’ report states.

It wasn’t until a June 15 search that a sailor literally stumbled onto Mims — finding him slumped behind a door to the engine room.

Rather than apprehend Mims, the sailor left for a few minutes to collect himself. He returned, convinced Mims to turn himself in, and then left Mims alone a second time to go grab a superior — but Mims gave himself up.

While he was missing, a superior signed off on a review of Mims that stated he was a “Model Petty Officer that consistently leads by example seeking greater responsibility,” the Navy Times reported.

The Navy has begun the process of giving Mims the boot, the Navy Times said.

 

[Colin Parkinson]

I get the impression there is a lot more wrong with that crew than just this guy. Perhaps some of the same issues that happened on the other 2 ships involved in the collisions?

 

[jollyjacktar]

Seeing as Mims was covered in shit and piss, I don't doubt that section of the engine room smelled bad. 

In all seriousness though, the USN have got some really big personnel problems on their boats.  They have Command issues, rock bottom morale (it seems) and seem to be just dysfunctional to the ninth degree.  The big guys better start paying attention to what is going on in their fleets and start making changes otherwise it is on the way becoming nothing but a  :trainwreck:

 

[Eaglelord17]

Our Navy has issues as well, for us to criticise them its the pot calling the kettle black.

 

[jollyjacktar]

We do, yes, but not like that.  They're going into a dark place if they don't fix things.  Not so much criticism but a realistic viewpoint.

 

[Sig_Des]

Is it wrong that I just picture Sloth hiding in the Engine Room?