Sailors prepare to lay to rest the remains of former Navy junior officer Marc Rockwell-Pate, Sept. 30, 2024, during a burial at sea aboard the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan while underway in the U.S. 3rd Fleet area of operations in the Pacific Ocean. (Eric Stanton/U.S. Navy)

A former junior officer in the Navy who died a year ago hiking a California mountain was buried at sea this week from the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan, where he once served.

The cremated remains of Lt. j.g. Marc Rockwell-Pate slid into the waters of the Pacific Ocean during a Monday ceremony attended by his wife, Lt. Cmdr. Alisen Rockwell, according to photos published by the Navy.

The burial took place as the ship was transiting to San Diego from Bremerton, Wash., Lt. Mohammad Issa, a spokesman for 3rd Fleet, said by email Wednesday.

Lt. Cmdr. Alisen Rockwell, wife of former Navy junior officer Marc Rockwell-Pate, salutes during his burial at sea on Sept. 30, 2024, aboard the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan while underway in the U.S. 3rd Fleet area of operations in the Pacific Ocean. (Timothy Dimal/U.S. Navy)

Capt. Daryle Cardone, commander of the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan, presents the flag to Lt. Cmdr. Alisen Rockwell, wife of former Navy junior officer Marc Rockwell-Pate, during her husband’s burial at sea in the Pacific Ocean, Sept. 30, 2024. (Kevin Steffanson/U.S. Navy)

Rockwell-Pate, a public affairs officer who called San Diego home, served aboard the Ronald Reagan from 2006 to 2008, while an enlisted sailor, the Navy said. He left the service in 2020, last serving aboard the carrier USS Harry S Truman.

His was the first burial at sea on the carrier since it changed homeports earlier this year from Japan to Washington, Issa said.

Burial at sea from Navy ships is authorized for active-duty members of the armed services; retirees and honorably discharged veterans; U.S. civilian marine personnel of Military Sealift Command; and dependent family members of active-duty, retirees and veterans, according to a Navy fact sheet.

Burials normally take place 12 to 18 months after the remains are received by the ship, the fact sheet states.

Family members are not normally allowed on board for the ceremony because the burials are done while ships are deployed.

Sailors lay to rest the remains of former Navy junior officer Marc Rockwell-Pate, Sept. 30, 2024, during a burial at sea aboard the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan while underway in the U.S. 3rd Fleet area of operations in the Pacific Ocean. (Kevin Steffanson/U.S. Navy)

Rockwell-Pate, 40, went missing Nov. 11 while hiking Mount Agassiz in the Sierra Nevada range and about 80 miles northeast of Fresno, Calif.

His wife had planned to meet him at the trailhead of the 13,900-foot peak, but when he did not show she contacted the local sheriff’s office, according to a Nov. 20 Facebook post by Inyo County Search and Rescue.

The hiker had called his father-in-law from the summit just after noon Nov. 11 and told him he would then be heading down.

Family members told rescue personnel that Rockwell-Pate was “an experienced hiker and climber, fit, with extensive survival training from his time with the United States Navy,” the Facebook post states.

The crew of a California Highway Patrol H-40 helicopter made several searches between the summit of Mount Agassiz and the trailhead on Nov. 12 but saw nothing.

The Inyo County Sheriff’s Office Search and Rescue team conducted a ground search until it was dark.

Shortly before midnight Nov. 12, a hiker reported finding a body on the west face of Mount Agassiz at about 12,800-feet. It was later identified as Rockwell-Pate.

Rockwell-Pate was born in Visalia, Calif., and graduated high school in Paoli, Ind. He enlisted in the Navy in February 2003 and was commissioned from Officer Candidate School at Newport, R.I., in May 2015, according to 3rd Fleet. He qualified as a Navy parachutist and diver.

He subsequently moved to Bishop, Calif., where he met his wife, according to an obituary published last year by Brune Mortuary in Bishop.

Rockwell-Pate was a fitness guru who relished climbing the highest peaks, all the while capturing photos and video of what he saw, according to the obituary.

It closed with the sailor’s favorite quote by nature writer John Muir: “The mountains are calling, and I must go.”

Stars and Stripes reporter Alex Wilson contributed to this report.