RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — The U.S. Navy says that a North Carolina native assigned to a guided missile destroyer was lost overboard and presumed dead in the Baltic Sea.
Seaman Recruit David L. Spearman went overboard Monday from the USS Arleigh Burke, according to a news release.
The Navy said that he had reported to the ship in April after training in Illinois.
WLOS-TV reports that Spearman was a 19-year-old from Etowah in western North Carolina’s Henderson County.
The family told the TV station that several generations of his family had served in the Navy.