Two sailors assigned to the Pearl Harbor attack submarine USS Greeneville were arrested and charged with severely beating a man in Portsmouth, N.H., local authorities said.

The two sailors were driving a government van near the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard shortly before midnight Friday when they stopped and beat up the 48-year-old man, said Ken Durand, a prosecutor in Portsmouth.
The Greeneville arrived in Portsmouth in December of 2007 for an overhaul that was expected to be finished this spring.
Yeoman Seaman Gerald Smith, 22, of District Heights, Md., and Storekeeper Seaman Sandy Portobanco, 23, of Los Angeles, were both charged with felony assault and each detained on $200,000 bail, Durand said.
The two also were charged with felony witness tampering because they are accused of trying to get a witness to lie about the incident, Durand said.
Police said the two sailors took offense to a comment the victim shouted at the van, Durand said.
Smith, who was driving, stopped the vehicle and got out and began to assault the man; Portobanco then got out and joined him in the beating, Durand said.
The victim was beaten against the van’s windshield, which was shattered in the incident. He suffered a fractured skull and remained in intensive care May 26, Durand said.
Portsmouth police arrested the two sailors several hours after the incident, according to a police statement.
The Foster’s Daily Democrat in New Hampshire reported that the attack left Kittery resident Stephen Huntress in intensive care throughout Memorial Day weekend with multiple injuries, including a fractured skull.
Kittery Police Chief Ed Strong confirmed the victim is a former chair of the Kittery Town Council, the newspaper said.
Portobanco and Smith were slated to depart on their submarine to Hawaiçi in the next two weeks before the assault resulted in both being arrested, the Daily Democrat said.