Abstract: On October 26, 1998, Employee #1 and six other employees were working at the Navy Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility at Puget Sound Naval Ship Yard. The employees were disconnecting the mooring chains of the USS Abstract: New Jersey from the pier in order to move the ship to another pier. The employees were in the process of bringing the mooring chains up along side of the ship to be secured. They were using a combination of wire rope pennants connected by shackles and a chain fall to lift the chains. The wire rope was bent around a cleat on top of a manila stopper. The stopper was used to support the load when it was required to remove a wire rope pennant. At the time of the accident, there was trouble getting the shackle past the horn of the cleat. The shackle is believed to have pinched the manila line at the cleat, causing the manila stopper to break. Employee #1, working on the first deck, was operating the chain fall and had stepped forward into the bight of the line. He extended this head over the wire rope at the same time that the stopper broke. When the stopper broke the wire rope sprang up and struck the employee in the neck and head area causing an occipital dislocation. The employee was air lifted to Harbor View Medical center where he died several hours later.