What's up with the USN this year?

Two Submarine captains and the commander of an EA-6B squadron have been relieved of duty since December of 2006.

The commander of the EA-6B squadron on the USS Eisenhower was recently relieved after 5 days of command for "a loss of confidence in his ability to command." An investigation has been convened, but no further details were released.

The Captain of the USS Minneapolis-Saint Paul was relieved in December of 2006 after five sailors were swept overboard and two drowned off the coast of England.

The Captain of the USS Newport News was relieved after the submarine collided with the Japanese supertanker Mogamigava. The submarine was in the Straits of Hormuz with the USS Eisenhower when it collided with the tanker. When it pulled into port in Bahrain, radioactive material began leaking, and the sub was forced to leave the area after concerns were raised by the Iranian government. It was transferred from the Persian Gulf for repairs.

my apologies..mis print..

[edit on 20-4-2007 by orangetom1999]

Good to see your posts again. They dont tell you exactly why or how the captain of the Eisenhower was relieved. Just lack of confidence. I do know this ..that there is a person unknown on the ship or boat who is assigned/empowered to observe the captain and relieve them if necessary.
THese people are sort of a political person..not known by the crew and undergo special training for this task. This is not something taken lightly.

As to the captain of the Minneapolis St. Paul...that was a very stupid move by the captain and officers. Some kind of dangerous. Submarine crews are highly trained when compared to surface crews. You dont just pluck a sub crewmember out of just anywhere. Like professional sports people ...many have gone by the wayside before the few are selected. It is just the nature of the buisness. It is very expensive to train sub crews.
I worked this boat when it was here for extended refit/maintenance.

As to the Newport News ..I also worked this boat when it was under construction. My opinion is that this boat was trying to sneak in under the cover of darkness using the tanker for a shadow. They messed up on the maneuver. Submarines regularly practice this technique. It would have to be in their regular bag of stealth tricks...just like aerial refueling for jets.
As to radioactive material leaking...they could have damaged a hull valve in the maneuver..or someone made a mistake in a valve line up and misdirected some such material overboard. I have seen this done. YOu can tell because people are running around taking water samples...in special gloves and armsleeves...and they dont let others get close. Areas are closed off...to most people. It is very telling when you see this happening.

Thanks,
Orangetom

I'm withholding judgment on the EA-6B CO because there isn't enough information on that one yet, but I honestly can't remember a time with this many people being relieved for cause in such a short period of time.

a friend of mine was a navy corpsman like an army medic anyway he was statipned on a resupply ship and while at see the ships captain got pregnant by one of her subordinates they made that ship put into nearest port and relieved her of command and flew her back to states while her xo
sailed the ship straight back to home port. so their could be all sdorts of reasons to release the commander from his duties.

now that is funny...sad but funny. Was this story in the mainstream news media??

Of course this had nothing to do with overall operational readyness of the squadrons they support. To say so would be sexist and non PC.

But you know what ..I dont care..someone needs to say it. What was someone thinking??

I know of males and females both releived of thier dutys for pregnancy on a operational combat ship for similar occurences. Married but not to each other. Both officers and enlisted.

Zaphod 58...I submit to you that this has been going on for a long time. It is just that the Navy does not usually make public its buisness in most instances. Especially submarine buisness. This was always kept out of the news for a long long time. It needs to be kept out of the news.

Now days it has become quite fashionable to write kiss and tell books so to speak. THe military is obviously suffering under this onus as well.

Thanks,
Orangetom