The Pentagon's independent watchdog will investigate the Navy^[1]'s ability to prevent and respond to suicides, a recently posted memo revealed^[2].

The memo, dated Feb. 27, says that investigators from the Pentagon's Office of Inspector General will try to "determine whether the Department of Navy effectively took actions to prevent and respond to incidents of deaths by suicide, suicide attempts, and suicidal ideation among members of the Navy assigned to sea duty or shore duty."

The investigation comes after the sea service experienced several suicide clusters aboard its ships that were undergoing maintenance at shipyards on both coasts, as well as an East Coast maintenance depot. The Navy's own audits have found the service's implementation of suicide prevention efforts to be lacking.

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The memo notes that investigators plan to visit most of the Navy's main base areas, specifically citing Norfolk^[4] Naval Air Station in Virginia; Naval Base San Diego^[5] in California; Naval Base Kitsap^[6] in Bremerton, Washington; and Naval Station Pearl Harbor^[7] in Hawaii.

The Navy has been plagued with high-profile suicide clusters and media coverage of the incidents for several years.

In 2022, Military.com first reported that the USS George Washington, an aircraft carrier that was undergoing a massive yearslong overhaul, had suffered at least nine suicides since November 2019.

Later, Navy investigations confirmed that quality-of-life issues^[8], along with poor leadership and a general failure to take care of sailors, basically left them fending for themselves and drove suicidal thoughts to become widespread^[9] on the ship.

The USS Theodore Roosevelt, an aircraft carrier that underwent a much shorter 18-month overhaul in Bremerton, also had at least three suicides aboard. The last of those occurred in January 2023^[10].

A Navy spokesperson told Military.com that they were "aware of the announcement, and we are standing by to support the evaluation."

"The Department of Navy remains committed to the well-being and mental health of our sailors and their families and will continue to prioritize suicide prevention efforts," the spokesperson added.

The Navy's investigation into a cluster of four suicides^[11] in the fall of 2022 at a regional maintenance center in Norfolk revealed that the command -- staffed in no small part by sailors who are undergoing mental health or other medical issues -- was not equipped to handle their needs.

The investigation also found that the command struggled to offer even basic suicide prevention, and its policies didn't have any guidance on dealing with sailors who demonstrated suicidal behaviors or what should be done in the aftermath of a suicide.

Investigators also found that the unit hadn't conducted an annual suicide prevention drill in three years.

That investigation also revealed that "the Navy, writ large, has failed to fully implement the suicide prevention program" as defined by its own rules.

Related: Navy Survey Shows Continued Problems with Stress, Burnout Among Sailors, But Progress on Culture^[12]

A senior defense official has confirmed that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has been briefed on the plans to return the V-22 Osprey^[1] tilt-rotor aircraft to flight after a nearly three-month grounding, but the exact timing of that return remained unclear Monday.

Despite the briefing, which is seen as a step closer to lifting the grounding following a deadly crash of an Air Force Special Operations Command Osprey on Nov. 29 that killed eight airmen^[2], none of the services was answering the question of when it expects to fly the aircraft again.

The Associated Press reported Friday^[3] that the flight ban would be lifted this week. However, officials for the Navy^[4] and Air Force^[5] chose not to answer questions Military.com posed to them about that timing. The Marine Corps^[6] simply said it had no updates.

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The move to return the aircraft to flight would raise many questions since the Osprey has had a spate of deadly crashes -- in addition to the Air Force's November crash off the coast of Japan, there was a deadly Marine Corps Osprey crash in Australia last summer^[8] for which the investigations have not been completed.

There is also an ongoing problem^[9] with the aircraft's clutch systems that turned deadly in June 2022^[10]. The military has claimed the issue is under control, despite it not having a full understanding of the cause^[11].

Sabrina Singh, a spokeswoman for the Pentagon, said that she wasn't "going to get ahead of any notifications" when asked whether U.S. officials would notify Japan before resuming Osprey flights.

Japanese government officials expressed concerns over Osprey operations late last year shortly after the Air Force crash. Two months before the Nov. 29 Osprey crash, two Marine Ospreys flying over Japan had to divert within hours of each other due to "cockpit caution indications" in the aircraft while flying near where the Air Force Osprey crashed.

Marcia Hart, a spokeswoman for the Navy's Air Systems Command, the office that issued the grounding bulletin and the authority on when it will be lifted, confirmed only that "conversations are ongoing between V-22 stakeholders about when a return to flight of the V-22 will occur."

Hart did say that "currently, we have no evidence that suggests there is a correlation" between the hard clutch engagement issue that has been a problem for years and circumstances of the November crash of the Air Force Osprey.

Meanwhile, the Air Force, when asked similar questions by Military.com, chose not to answer any of them directly and instead said that Air Force Special Operations Command "remains in close coordination" with Naval Air Systems Command and "any change in the status of the V-22 fleet's operational status will come in the form of an updated flight bulletin" from that command.

Defense officials have stressed on several occasions that once Naval Air Systems Command lifts the grounding bulletin, it would still be up to the individual services to decide how and when Ospreys begin flying again.

The Marine Corps, which operates the vast majority of the military's V-22 fleet, has signaled that it needs to get the aircraft back in the air^[12]. A top Marine general told a conference panel in February that the Corps has seen "dramatic impacts" from the flying halt and on operations for three Marine expeditionary units, or MEUs -- including the 26th MEU currently on deployment^[13] with the Bataan Amphibious Ready Group in the Mediterranean.

Meanwhile, the Air Force has been more reserved.

Last month, Air Force officials publicly confirmed said that a parts failure occurred during the November Osprey crash in Japan, but said the root cause of the crash was still unknown.

The head of Air Force Special Operations Command, Lt. Gen. Tony Bauernfeind, told reporters last month that^[14], while there is a "strong desire" to return to flying the Osprey, "we want to be able to return to fly with as much knowledge as we possibly can so that we can ensure that we are safely taking care of our crews as it goes forward."

Finally, the Navy, which was planning on using the aircraft to replace its aging fleet of C-2 Greyhounds that keep carriers supplied at sea, was forced to surge the last remaining squadron of 15 Greyhounds^[15] "to meet the Carrier Onboard Delivery mission for deployed aircraft carriers in U.S. 5th and 7th Fleets," Cmdr. Beth Teach, a spokeswoman for the Navy's aviation boss, told reporters last month.

-- Drew Lawrence contributed to this report.

Related: Air Force Confirms Parts Failure Occurred in Deadly Japan Osprey Crash that Left 8 Airmen Dead^[16]