Bad Valve Blamed; Sailor Was on Enterprise : Navy Bans Use of Breathing Gear Tied to Death

The asphyxiation of a 21-year-old sailor who died while working in the “nuclear spaces” of the aircraft carrier Enterprise has prompted the Navy to stop using the type of protective hood blamed in the accident, officers close to the investigation said Monday.

The officers, who spoke on the condition they not be identified, said an investigating officer traced the death of Michael A. Bowden to a faulty air valve in the hood he was wearing during maintenance work in the areas that contain the ship’s propulsion equipment.

The investigator discovered the faulty valve about five days after the April 17 accident, and the Navy banned the hoods in mid-May. Officials said they do not expect to release the final results until next month.

It remains unclear why Bowden did not remove the hood when he must have realized that he was not receiving oxygen, the officers said.

“That will probably be a mystery,” one investigator said.

Bowden, an electrician’s mate from Las Vegas, died while working in the lower level of a compartment containing a reactor that had been shut down for more than a month, said Cmdr. Ron Wildermuth, a spokesman for the Naval Air Forces Pacific Fleet in San Diego.

An autopsy conducted at the Navy Hospital concluded that Bowden died of asphyxiation. Wildermuth said Navy investigators are attempting to determine the precise cause of the accident and whether “any irregularities may have occurred.”

However, he said, Rear Adm. Lawrence Burkhardt III, deputy chief of naval personnel, told Bowden’s mother, Patricia, earlier this month that the investigation indicated that “the flow of air into Michael’s protective hood was stopped by an air hose fitting.”

In a July 7 letter to Patricia Bowden, Burkhardt said that although Bowden was trained to remove the hood in an emergency, “he was apparently unable to do so before he lost consciousness.”

Wildermuth said the initial investigation has been completed. But before the results are made public, the report must be reviewed by the chain of command and released by the judge advocate general in Washington.

Wildermuth said there have been no other deaths in naval nuclear reactor compartments and none of the protective hoods worn there has failed in the past. The hood is a plastic headpiece with an air hose connecting it to a source of oxygen elsewhere on the ship.

Sailors now are outfitted with a different type of hood.

Bowden’s mother has blamed the Navy for the death of her son, who officials acknowledge had suffered a seizure while donating blood at a civilian blood bank 11 months before his death. Navy officials said he was placed on limited duty for six months and underwent a comprehensive neurological examination and follow-up observation.

“No further seizures occurred, and on Dec. 9, 1985, a medical board found him fit for full duty,” Wildermuth said. He reported back to the Enterprise in February. The ship was in the Indian Ocean when Bowden died.