Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 23 was established on 29 September 2006 at Naval Air Station North Island in San Diego, California.

[1] On 26 January 2007, a MH-60S assigned to HSC-23 Detachment Three, and underway on USS Bonhomme Richard, crashed while conducting in-flight operations training off the coast of Southern California.

At 1505, 27 January 2007, the SAR effort was terminated and three missing crewmembers were declared "Lost at Sea."

On 16 February 2007, during salvage operations, the wreckage of Bullet 10 and the remains of the three missing crewmembers were recovered.

At the time of the incident, the weather satisfied the Visual Flight Rules (VFR) conditions.