You’re on deck during a storm. One moment you’re completing your watch, and the next, you’re in the water, swallowed by darkness and cold. Maybe it wasn’t weather that sent you overboard. Maybe it was faulty equipment, a slippery slope, or a collision that threw you against steel bulkheads. Either way, the event stays with you long after the rescue. Navy Veterans who’ve experienced falling overboard or shipboard accidents often carry wounds that aren’t visible, and proving service connection for these injuries requires understanding what the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) needs to see.
At the Law Office of Sean Kendall, our skilled Veterans benefits attorneys have spent decades helping Veterans document the moments that changed their lives. When shipboard trauma leaves you struggling with PTSD, flashbacks, or physical limitations, building a strong disability claim means connecting the dots between what happened at sea and how it affects you today. Reach out to our nationwide team to learn how we can help.
What Causes Navy Veterans to Fall Overboard?
Shipboard life involves constant exposure to conditions most civilians never face. Understanding the common causes of these accidents helps establish the content for your service-connected disability claim. Common causes of overboard accidents include:
- Inclement weather. Heavy seas, high winds, and reduced visibility during storms make even routine deck operations dangerous. Veterans who went overboard during severe weather often describe the terror of losing sight of the ship and knowing that rescue depends on being spotted in massive swells.
- Equipment failures. Safety rails that give way, harnesses that fail under stress, or deck surfaces lacking non-slip coating send sailors into the water without warning. When equipment doesn’t perform as designed, sailors face physical injury and psychological trauma.
- Operational hazards. Flight operations, underway replenishment, and man-overboard drills ironically create situations where sailors face heightened danger. The chaos of combat operations, the stress of nighttime exercises, or the intensity of damage control scenarios can result in accidents that change lives forever.
How Do Shipboard Collisions and Accidents Cause Lasting Trauma?
Not every incident involves going overboard. Collisions, fires, equipment failures, and structural accidents also cause lasting psychological and physical damage. For example:
- Collision trauma. When ships collide with other vessels or underwater objects, the force throws crew members against bulkheads, down ladders, or into machinery.
- Confined space. Being trapped in flooded compartments, injured in machinery spaces, or caught in fires below deck triggers intense fear responses that persist for years.
- Witnessing injuries or deaths. Even if you weren’t physically injured, being present during fatal accidents or desperate rescue attempts affects your mental health.
Why Might Service Connection Get Denied for Shipboard Accidents?
The VA understands aircraft crashes and combat injuries, but shipboard accidents occupy a gray area that leads to frequent denials. Sean Kendall, Attorney at Law, makes it his duty to outline the common pitfalls to help Veterans build stronger initial claims, such as:
- Missing contemporaneous medical records. If you were pulled from the water and immediately returned to duty without extended treatment, your service medical records may contain only minimal documentation of the incident. The VA looks for evidence that your condition began during service, but medical personnel often focus on immediate physical injuries without documenting psychological trauma.
- Delayed symptom onset. PTSD from falling overboard or shipboard accidents may not manifest immediately. The VA sometimes interprets this as evidence that your condition isn’t service-connected, even though delayed PTSD onset is well-documented in medical literature.
- Lack of specific incident reports. The Navy generates mountains of paperwork, but finding documentation of your specific accident can prove challenging. If the incident wasn’t serious enough to trigger a formal investigation, or if reports weren’t properly archived, you’re left trying to prove something happened without official records to support your account.
What Documentation Proves Your Shipboard Accident Happened?
Building a successful claim starts with gathering every piece of evidence that confirms your experience and connects it to your current condition. Helpful documentation includes:
- Deck logs and ship records. Every Navy vessel maintains detailed logs of significant events, including man-overboard incidents, collisions, and serious accidents. Requesting these records through the National Archives or your service branch establishes an official timeline of what happened.
- Buddy statements. Shipmates who witnessed your accident or observed your behavior after the incident can provide sworn statements describing what they saw. The more specific the details—including dates, locations, weather conditions, and your visible distress—the more credible these statements become.
- Service medical records. Even if you weren’t hospitalized, sick call visits, pharmacy records for sleep medications, or notes about anxiety symptoms create a paper trail connecting your condition to your time in service. The Law Office of Sean Kendall often reviews complete service medical records to find references Veterans didn’t realize documented their trauma.
- Post-service medical evidence. VA medical records, private treatment notes, and hospital records showing consistent PTSD symptoms since discharge help establish that your condition is chronic and ongoing.
How Do Physical Injuries Complicate PTSD Claims?
Many Veterans who fell overboard or survived shipboard accidents sustained physical injuries alongside psychological trauma. The interaction between these conditions affects your disability rating and compensation. For example:
- Cold water immersion. Hyperthermia, near-drowning, and prolonged exposure to cold water can result in chronic respiratory problems, joint pain, and neurological issues. When you’re claiming PTSD from the incident, don’t overlook the physical injuries that may also warrant service connection.
- Traumatic brain injuries (TBI). If you struck your head during a fall or collision, you may have sustained a TBI that contributes to your cognitive and emotional symptoms. Comprehensive neuropsychological testing helps differentiate these conditions and ensures you receive appropriate compensation for each.
- Chronic pain. Physical injuries from shipboard accidents cause ongoing pain that exacerbates PTSD symptoms. The VA should consider how your physical and mental conditions interact, which may warrant higher combined ratings than if each condition were viewed in isolation.
What Navy Veterans Need to Win Shipboard Accident Claims
Proving service connection for PTSD and physical injuries from falling overboard or shipboard accidents requires strategic preparation and an understanding of what the VA will evaluate.
The VA schedules Compensation and Pension (C&P) exams to assess your condition and its relationship to service. These exams determine whether your disability is service-connected and how severely it affects your daily functioning. C&P preparation makes the difference between a fair evaluation and a denied claim. Here’s what our legal team advises:
- Bring a detailed symptoms timeline. Write down when symptoms began, how they’ve progressed, and specific examples of how they affect your life. Include information about nightmares, avoidance behaviors, relationship difficulties, and memory and concentration problems.
- Describe your worst days. Veterans naturally want to appear capable and resilient, but the C&P exam isn’t the time to minimize your struggles. The VA rates disabilities based on their impact during periods of exacerbation, so honest descriptions of your most difficult symptoms lead to more accurate ratings.
- Request copies of exam reports. You have the right to review what the examiner wrote about your condition. If the report contains errors or omits information you provided, you can submit corrected statements before the VA decides your claim.
Working with an attorney who focuses on Veterans' disability benefits can help you navigate the complexities of shipboard accident claims. The Law Office of Sean Kendall has represented Navy Veterans across the country, from California to Florida and all points in between, helping them secure the compensation they earned through service and sacrifice.
Whether your claim involves PTSD from falling overboard, physical injuries from shipboard collisions, or the cumulative trauma of multiple incidents, legal representation increases your chances of success. Expert witnesses, detailed medical evidence, and strategic advocacy can turn denials into approved claims.
