SLCC Celebrates Black History Month: Carl Maxie Brashear

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Carl Maxie Brashear was the first African-American to become a U.S. Navy Master Diver. Born in Tonieville, Kentucky, the sixth of eight children to sharecroppers McDonald and Gonzella, Brashear attended Sonora Grade School before enlisting in the U.S. Navy. He graduated from the U.S. Navy Diving & Salvage School in 1954, becoming the first African-American to attend and graduate from the Diving & Salvage School.


Brashear first did work as a diver retrieving approximately 16,000 rounds of ammunition. On his first tour of shore duty in Quonset Point, Rhode Island his duties included salvaging airplanes and recovering dead bodies.
Early in his career, Brashear’s duties included escorting U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower and the presidential ship Barbara Ann.

In 1966, Brashear was involved in the accident that has come to be known as the Palomares incident. A B28 nuclear bomb was lost off the coast of Palomares, Spain when two U.S. Air Force aircraft collided during aerial refueling. Brashear was then serving aboard the USS Hoist, which was dispatched to find and recover the missing bomb.
After a search that took several months, the warhead was found. Brashear’s left leg was injured when a line broke during the recovery effort. He was evacuated to Torrejon Air Base in Spain, then to the USAF Hospital at Wiesbaden Air Base, Germany, and to the Naval Hospital in Portsmouth, Virginia. His leg was eventually amputated due to the injuries caused in recovering the warhead.
Following his amputation and convalescence, Brashear was assigned to the Harbor Clearance Unit Two, Diving School, preparing for return to full active duty and diving. In April 1968, Brashear was the first amputee diver to be certified as a U.S. Navy diver. In 1970, he became the first African-American U.S. Navy Master Diver.
Brashear retired from the U.S. Navy as a Master Chief Petty Officer and Master Diver. Following his retirement, he served as a civilian employee for the government at Naval Station Norfolk until his retirement in 1993.
U.S. Secretary of Defense William Cohen presented Brashear with the Secretary of Defense Medal for Outstanding Public Service in 2000.
In 2007, the Newport News Fire Department dedicated a fireboat named Carl Brashear to be used by their Dive and Marine Incident Response Teams.
The following year, the U.S. Naval Service christened the Lewis and Clark-class dry cargo ship USNS Carl Brashear in his honor.
In 2009, Nauticus—a Norfolk, Virginia science and maritime museum—opened the exhibit "Dream to Dive: The Life of Master Diver Carl Brashear".
His life story is dramatized in the 2000 motion picture Men of Honor; actor Cuba Gooding, Jr. portraysBrashear in the film.
Following his death in 2006, his sons DaWayne and Phillip Brashear started the Carl Brashear Foundation in his honor.