Navy files homicide charges against commanders of 2 ships in deadly crashes

[SlugSlinger]

I wonder if these fellas were appointed by the previous liberal administration. Glad to see some accountability!

Elizabeth Zwirz1 hour ago
Video
Two Navy commanders will face negligent homicide charges related to the deadly crashes of two ships off Asia last year, the Navy announced Tuesday.

The decision to file charges against service members of the USS Fitzgerald and the USS John S. McCain were decided by Adm. Frank Caldwell, who was given the authority and examined the evidence of what caused the collisions, according to Navy spokesman Capt. Greg Hicks.

Former Cmdr. Bryce Benson of the USS Fitzgerald and former Cmdr. Alfredo J. Sanchez of the USS John S. McCain are among those charged, according to USNI News. Additionally, two lieutenants and one lieutenant junior grade of the Fitzgerald will also face charges, the Navy said.

Among the charges are dereliction of duty, hazarding a vessel and negligent homicide.

A Chief Petty Officer of the McCain may also face a dereliction of duty charge, officials said, and administrative actions, including non-judicial punishment, will be taken for members of both crews.

The charges are to be presented at what the military refers to as an Article 32 hearing, which will determine whether the accused are court-martialed.

"All individuals alleged to have committed misconduct are entitled to a presumption of innocence," the Navy said.

The USS Fitzgerald collided with a commercial ship in waters off Japan in June, killing seven sailors. Ten sailors were killed when the USS John S. McCain collided with an oil tanker in Southeast Asia in August.

This is a developing story; check back for updates. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

 

[dennishoddy]

You had to wonder how those collisions occurred when they have state of the art navigation systems and radar.

 

[Pokinfun]

A couple of years ago I watched an artillery unit emplace and fire a few rounds on Ft Sill. If I had been the Chief of Firing Battery, I would have gone ballistic on the entire battery. We would have march ordered and emplaced continuously for the next few days. We would have kept going until we were proficient at each task before we have ever fired a round. The reason they were not proficient was because of the lack of training related to the War on Terrorism. The soldiers may have been experts at patrols and convoys, but sucked at their actual jobs.
I'm not sure of the issues on those ships besides what I saw on the news. The issue could have been related to a lack of funding, training, or just plain old incompetence, I don't know. However, I do know that someone on those ships should have identified an issue and corrected it before those crews ever put anyone in danger.

 

[deerwhacker444]

I'm really surprised. I figured it would get Whitewashed and people reassigned..

 

[SlugSlinger]

You had to wonder how those collisions occurred when they have state of the art navigation systems and radar.

It’s called freaking incompetence from a pattern of poor leadership!

 

[dennishoddy]

It’s called freaking incompetence from a pattern of poor leadership!

It appears so.

 

[Mos Eisley]

When I was in my last assignment in Combat Communications I was a QC (Quality Control) Augmentee. They need someone from each shop to perform training evaluations and equipment inspections since QC can't know everything about everything. I failed some of our equipment for being inoperative and missing parts...non-deployable. Man did I start a **** storm with my supervisors! They tried pressuring me every way they knew how to pass that equipment since it made them look bad. No way was I saying something was combat ready when it was not. It would have MY name on it. I told them to get it fixed and then I'd pass it. I never heard the end of that crap until I got out. Too many people pencil-whip inspections, IMHO.

 

[Poke78]

A couple of years ago I watched an artillery unit emplace and fire a few rounds on Ft Sill. If I had been the Chief of Firing Battery, I would have gone ballistic on the entire battery. We would have march ordered and emplaced continuously for the next few days. We would have kept going until we were proficient at each task before we have ever fired a round. The reason they were not proficient was because of the lack of training related to the War on Terrorism. The soldiers may have been experts at patrols and convoys, but sucked at their actual jobs.
I'm not sure of the issues on those ships besides what I saw on the news. The issue could have been related to a lack of funding, training, or just plain old incompetence, I don't know. However, I do know that someone on those ships should have identified an issue and corrected it before those crews ever put anyone in danger.

Two things: first, I've been saying exactly what you have about the WoT taking away MOS skills because of making everybody into mounted infantry. I was an artillery officer back in the day and it has pained me greatly to see how we've lawyered and ROE'd our way away from properly prosecuting the battle with every tool available. My time was all Cold War time so that's the context of my perspective where we prepared to fight the invading Russian hordes.

Second, simply because I'm curious about what bad practices you observed at Ft. Sill, I'd love some details. Electronics and GPS has vastly overtaken what I learned and practiced on emplacement and laying the battery. TIA...

 

[John6185]

Everyone in command should be well qualified and trained for their respective jobs. The Skipper/Commander of the ship has to rest and when he does he entrusts the control of the ship to his second in command and if they fail in their job... Many times a position may be filled by someone who is not well trained and therein lies the problem.