Destroyer CO, CMC fired during deployment

[Tx4obama]

Source: Navy Times

The commanding officer and command master chief of the Norfolk, Va.-based destroyer Stout were fired Tuesday for a “pervasive pattern of unprofessional behavior” among the ship’s crew, according to an announcement by 6th Fleet. In addition, one officer, six chiefs and one petty officer have been kicked off the ship.

Cmdr. Nathan Borchers, who took command of the ship Dec. 28, was relieved by Vice Adm. Harry Harris, 6th Fleet commander, due to the crew’s “unprofessional behavior in overseas ports and a substandard command climate on board following an investigation into multiple allegations of crew misconduct,” according to a 6th Fleet statement.

The crew’s offenses included “fraternization, orders violations and disregard for naval standards of conduct and behavior which contributed to poor crew morale and a hostile command climate,” the statement said.

SNIP

The ship is on deployment in the Mediterranean Sea and has been escorting evacuee ferries from Libya to Malta while continuing to perform its ballistic-missile defense mission in the Mediterranean. The ship deployed Dec. 15.

Read more: http://tinyurl.com/4s7jbye

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Edited to add a working link.

[Cirque du So-What]

1. That link appears to have gone AWOL

[Tx4obama]

2. Here's the front page link. Story is top left

http://www.navytimes.com/

and here's a tinyurl that goes directly to the article: http://tinyurl.com/4s7jbye

p.s. I've had trouble posting those Navy Times link in the past, don't know what's up with 'em ;(

[sharp_stick]

3. This line really got me

"One officer, five chiefs and one petty officer were removed from the ship following nonjudicial proceedings for the misconduct ashore. A sixth chief was removed for further legal proceedings, 6th Fleet said."

How many chiefs does a destroyer carry? It sounds like a pretty significant chunk of this ships bosses were up to no good.

I'd love to know exactly what happened.

[Tx4obama]

5. Don't know if confirmed but FoxNews said there was drunkeness & partying. n/t

[sharp_stick]

6. It would have to be some hardcore

partying to get this many high ranks booted off a ship.

This could get interesting.

[haele]

7. Sounds like just under a quarter of the Goat Locker was involved.

Usually between 20 - 25 CPOs on a Burke-class,and the petty officer was probably a E-6. And there;s probably more than one department involved; usually, it's only two to four Chiefs per department, with Engineering (usually five or six) and Combat Systems (usually four) being the largest departments.

When a ship has problems at that level of "leadership", it's usually part of the ship's "rep", and is damn difficult to clean up - takes a significant investment in the senior officer corps and a intense turn-over effort in the leads from the shops up through the Goat Locker and Wardroom. And yeah, female officers and chiefs can be just as bad as the males if the morale and leadership is laxidaisical or poor.

I know of one of the "newer" sub tenders, built in the late 70's, that ended up retired before it hit 15 years while her older sisters (built in the 50's and 60's) were kept in service. That ship had started off developing such a bad rep that even if one wasn't a loser or slacker when they were assigned there, they became that way before they transferred out. Didn't matter if you were officer or enlisted, it was just a bad ship.

I'm wondering how badly poor management was ingrained upon that ship; never worked on the Stout, but most of the Burke class were okay, the crew was small enough everyone knew each other, and (at least in the early 2K's)they tended to have a halfway decent attitude when it came to leadership, crew coheasion, and general morale.

Haele

[DarthDem]

8. Awesome, Informative Post

Thank you! And I love your kitties and pup.

[nalnn]

9. +1

[sharp_stick]

10. Thanks

I'm thinking the reason that the new CO is the task force 65 commander and the new top enlisted is the CMC of the 6th fleet is to try to clean up the rep before it gets out of hand.

[dixiegrrrrl]

4. Something does not seem right with this story.

On a cached page, here is info. about the guy ( but the "current page" view has been swept clean)

you can link to Google cache page here:
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:BwvTG0It9DgJ:www.stout.navy.mil/site%2520pages/co.aspx+Cmdr.+Nathan+Borchers&cd=3&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=firefox-a&source=www.google.com


After a long listing the guy's career, here is his list of "atta boys":

Commander Borchers has been awarded The Admiral Ben Moreell award for Logistics Excellence by the Navy League of America and the Admiral James L. Holloway III leadership award by the Stennis Center. Personal awards include the Defense Meritorious Service Medal, the Meritorious Service Medal, Navy/Marine Corps Commendation Medal (4) and the Navy/Marine Corps Achievement Medal (5).

So with all that experience and no past problems suddenly he has a problem?

Hmmmm.