6 Navy Commanders Sacked in 6 Weeks

[donsu]

http://blog.wired.com/defense/2007/05/for_the_third_t.html


For the sixth time in as many weeks, the lead officer of a Navy ship has been suddenly relieved of command, DANGER ROOM pal Andy Scutro reports for Navy Times.

Cmdr. E.J. McClure, captain of the destroyer Arleigh Burke... had a “loss of confidence in her ability to command” following the May 15 “soft grounding” of the Burke off Norfolk as the ship was heading back into port. No one was injured in the incident, but damage to the ship is still being assessed, according to the official.

"The Norfolk grounding is especially odd given the well-charted waters," Navy Times adds, in a second story. But it's hardly the only strange incident in recent weeks. On May 10th, the captain of the USS Constitution -- a 19th century warship, serving largely as a floating museum -- was relieved, for unspecified "lost of trust and confidence." Two days earlier, the Navy sacked the commanding officer of the destroyer Higgins for "loss of confidence in his ability to command."
--------------------------------


just part of the purge to rid the military, state govs., and the US gov. of anybody that won't pledge to be a neo con criminal.

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. Nah in this case, yuo ground a ship you loose your command

[slackmaster]

5. Unless you are operating a landing craft

And even then only planned groundings are acceptable.

Commander McClure will never make Captain.

[Richard Steele]

7. That's certainly true. It's the "six in six weeks" that's odd.

If they really are "purging" the Command ranks of
people they don't like, it wouldn't be terribly
hard to arrange a soft grounding as a pretext to
remove someone from their command.

And with the ships these days, they wouldn't even
need a co-conspirator on board- it could be done
with software. :tinfoilhat:

[slackmaster]

11. They don't need to run a valuable ship aground in order to relieve its commander

If they just wanted to get Commander McClure off the ship and put someone else in her place, the Navy has full authority to do that without creating a dangerous and potentially costly incident.

Relieving a ship's commander is embarrassing enough to the Navy as it is. A grounding incident is far more so.

[Richard Steele]

13. That's a very good point.

Thanks- that tinfoil hat was getting hot and itchy! :thumbsup:

[slackmaster]

15. The gut reaction is understandable considering the administration's track record

Lies and deceit are par for the course. Too bad that's what we have come to expect.

I know some people in the Navy, and a lot more about this incident than I can write in an open forum. This was not a setup, just a fuckup. It's very fortunate that nobody was injured. It could have been much worse.

[SpiralHawk]

46. The republicon chickenhawks purged the Pentagon a few years back

They tossed out a huge group of generals, and replaced them with their own stooges who are not loyal to America, but loyal to the BushCo Christofascist Cabal of Corrupt Cronies.

In the same manner, they purged the Justice Department, to put in 150 stooges from Regent U. who have no loyalty to America, but pledge fealty to the Cabal of Corrupt Christofascist republicon cronies.

What would Jesus do? Blow chunks at this immoral treason by republicons.

[FogerRox]

8. Thats my 1st thought...... ya know....

Remember the HMS Corrnwall, what ever happened to that commander?

[file83]

44. Bush has run our country aground, but he is still The Decider!!!

Personally, I believe he should be relieved of command.

[whistle]

2. Are they opposing the naval deployment in the Persian Gulf which they

...know will lead to nuclear attacks on Iran and Syria?

[EFerrari]

3. The timing is fishy, isn't it? n/t

[me b zola]

6. That is what I wondered when I saw the subject line of the thread...n/t

[Richard Steele]

9. Certainly interesting timing, isn't it? nm

[HeeBGBz]

26. That was my first thought on reading the OP. n/t

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

4. It's tough being a flag officer these days.

[lonestarnot]

10. Preparation for an invasion?

[chimpymustgo]

12. War! Whether you want it or not. Hello IRAN.

Lord have mercy on us.

[Tyler Durden]

14. Fascist Dictatorships regularly purge their military officer ranks.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Purge

[ChairmanAgnostic]

24. and how easy is it to ground a ship, when a superior officer

tells the crew to screw the captain?

I think about the radical right religious folks currently in charge of the Air Force Academy, and I shudder.
But when you consider that some admiral told Cheney to go pound sand when Cheney tried to add a third carrier group last week to Iran, then I have to wonder if this purge isn;t related to their lack of religious purity and Neoconmanism.

[slackmaster]

31. That is not what happened

I don't expect anyone to take my word for it, but I have access to very good information about the event.

Grounding a ship is extremely dangerous, and the Navy does not need any kind of pretext for relieving a ship's commander.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

41. I trust you, and thanks for your experience, insight, etc.

I am just so jaded by these assholes in charge, that everything begins to have an odor, stink, and worse about it.

[slackmaster]

48. I know what you mean, it's perfectly understandable

I have the same instinctive distrust. If I didn't happen to have special knowledge of what goes on in the Navy, I'd probably smell a conspiracy too.

[Marnieworld]

16. wow - Now where are their press conferences?

It's not enough to privately dissent to illegal requests. For the good of the country if not the world they must come forward and blow the whistle. They have all pledged to defend THE CONSTITUTION and that is all they must do.

The timing is too frightening to ignore.

Fuck. :(

[Parche]

17. Navy

Suspicious maybe, but if you ground a ship, you dont get promoted and lose any command.

The only one I know of who grounded a ship and made it through unscathed is
Fleet Admiral Nimitz, and we are all glad they didnt demote him.


USS Arleigh Burke

Named after Arleigh '31Knot' Burke

[nadinbrzezinski]

18. And one of the Captains during Pearl Harbor

Once he noticed he could not get the hell out, he grounded the Nevada

He even got a medal for it

;-)

But those are exceptions, not rules

[Cooley Hurd]

27. The IJN tried to sink her in the channel (to effectively block PH)...

...but he put her into Hospital Point, saving both the use of the channel AND his ship.:thumbsup:

[FogerRox]

19. REC # 3, rec this up, please. Deserves to be on the greatest page IMHO.

[electron_blue]

20. How many commanders, on average, are relieved in a single year?

6 in 6 weeks is not meaningful w/o this information, although it certainly sounds high to me.

[haele]

38. 6 Commanding Officers in 6 weeks is highly unusual -

And at least two of them assigned to battle groups that may/may not be getting ready to be deployed soon. (I can't tell you if they are, even if I did know...)

On average it's worked out to around 1 actual ship CO a year in the 30 years I've been associated with the Navy, not counting the "it's time to retire, Capt'n" speech a few of them get after being considered a bit too testy at Captain's mast or around the mess. Sometimes, you get two or three, sometimes, you get none...

The grounding issue for the canning of the CO of the Burke - well, she might not have had anything to do with it, even though she does have to take the fall with it. A tired or distracted harbor pilot can screw up even the best COs once control is handed over to either enter or exit the harbor.

The article doesn't mention why the CO of the Higgins was removed, but since she's on the west coast, the author might not have the information. So here's that article I know of - loss of confidence due to "an administrative issue" -

http://www.news.navy.mil/search/display.asp?story_id=29265

Running a search on "Commanding Officers Relieved" at that site finds:
Jan 8, 2007 USS Newport News (SSN 750) due to a collision getting out of the harbor
Jan 19, 2007, USS Minneapolis-St Paul (SSN 708) due to collision at sea the previous year
Feb 2, 2007, USS Halsey (DDG 97) due to "an incident onboard"
May 10, 2007, USS Constitution, due to "lack of trust". (The Constitution is a floating museum.)
May 15, 2007, USS Helena (SSN 725) - no reason given - so I suppose that means "administrative" - the CO's been reassigned to regional staff.

Oops, hit send too quickly...

Hmmm. I don't know if it's just a spate of bad luck/poor crew morale within the last 8 months or so, of if there really is a tinfoil hat reason. Three years prior to this point in time, there's only mention of three other ships who had COs removed "for cause" - all three for collisions or groundings.

The ones that are curious are the Higgins, the Halsey, and the Helena.

Haele

[electron_blue]

39. That's very enlightening and does sound highly unusual. And maybe suspicious

I don't suppose any of these ships (esp the Higgins, Halsey or Helena) are headed toward the Gulf, are they?

[slackmaster]

40. "No reason" and "incident" are likely fraternization or adultery scandals

Or something as simple as a DUI on shore. The CO of the Constitution allegedly struck someone with a stack of paperwork. In any case they're not going to be sending that ship to the Gulf.

The grounding issue for the canning of the CO of the Burke - well, she might not have had anything to do with it, even though she does have to take the fall with it. A tired or distracted harbor pilot can screw up even the best COs once control is handed over to either enter or exit the harbor.

The ship was under control of its crew, not a harbor pilot. It was underway going at a considerable speed when it hit a sandy bottom. Both the CO and a Commodore were on the bridge, but neither was attending to the navigation of the ship.

I think a couple of factors are in play here:

1. We are seeing a crop of officers that were fast-tracked starting in the mid-1980s reaching command rank where they can do some real damage. Some of them are proving to be outstanding commanders, some are not.

2. The Navy is clearly cleaning house to make itself better prepared for combat. That does not equate to a political purge, and I really do not believe such a purge is happening.

Replacements for the terminated commanders are being selected very carefully. They're putting more experienced combat officers where they are likely to be needed for combat again.

[FogerRox]

45. SSN 708 was a good sacking 2 sailors died & was dec '06.

The Higgins is now in the Gulf, while the Prowler squadron CO on the IKE is now back at home - Norfolk VA. Heres a better run down

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x962012

[Miss Chybil]

21. Setting the stage to have the yes-men bomb Iran. nt

[DS1]

23. Right, the Constitution is loading up the cannonball storage and filling the grog as we speak

[slackmaster]

34. A cup of grog sounds pretty good right now

Is it Friday yet?

ETA I have never toured the Constitution, and was very disappointed when I went to Baltimore several years ago on business because her sister ship, the Constellation, was in dry dock for maintenance.

:argh:

[mmonk]

22. That's how dictators, monarchs, "unitary " executives

operate. Keep going until you get the ones that tell you the lies you want to hear. Means he has a very bad idea according to some in command.

[slackmaster]

32. Sometimes the unintentional grounding of a ship

Is just an unintentional grounding of a ship.

[Adsos Letter]

35. Freud would concur.

[Cooley Hurd]

25. Capt McClure's loss of command makes sense, but...

...how the FUCK do you get removed from command of a ship that hasn't sailed in almost TEN years (the USS Constitution)??? :shrug::crazy:

[lpbk2713]

28. It wouldn't have to be directly related to the command of a vessel.

Such as a couple of DUI convictions, hanky-panky with an enlisted WAVE, or he could have been a (shudder) registered Democrat.

[slackmaster]

30. The CO of the Constitution allegedly assaulted a crew member

Supposedly he hit someone in the head with a stack of paperwork.

[formercia]

29. Old Ironsides refused to sail for Iranian waters.

:evilgrin:

New secret weapon. The Iranians die laughing.

[DU GrovelBot]

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36. Please remember: absolutely everything this administration does

is political first and foremost, and often only. That's all you need to know about these actions. Had the one who grounded the ship been totally loyal politically, he'd have been promoted.

[slackmaster]

37. You don't have the foggiest idea what you are talking about

Commanding officers who ground ships almost always get relieved of their commands, and this one (Commander McClure) is a woman.

You are basing your knee-jerk conclusion on a complete vacuum of information about her politics or loyalty, or even her service record. Not to mention that you don't know jack shit about the incident.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

42. perhaps both of you are right.

there is that possibility

[slackmaster]

47. We are talking about Navy Commanders here

The vetting process the military puts candidates for O5 rank through excludes anyone who has shown the slightest possibility that he or she will not follow orders. Note that not one of these dismissals had anything to do with insubordination or disloyalty - In every case there was either a failure to properly handle valuable equipment, or an interpersonal behavior issue.

The Navy may indeed be doing an intentional purge of poor performers, but it's got nothing to do with loyalty to the administration or lack thereof. Anyone who isn't a team player gets weeded out long before attaining command rank.

[RiDuvessa]

43. Loss of confidence....hmm

That's usually Navy-speak for someone who messed around with an enlisted sailor. Or a junior officer. Not acceptable in the military. Can screw up your career in a big way. They don't usually come right out and say it.