That is what I had heard at the time.
BENGHAZI PING
http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2012/oct/31/navy-denies-stennis-skipper-removed-over-libya/
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The reason given for the investigation was allegations of “inappropriate leadership and judgment.” Officials have stressed that the accusations are not about personal misbehavior, such as drinking or sexual harassment.
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Research of the Stennis’ location indicates that the aircraft carrier was oceans away from the scene on Sept. 11.
Deploying four months early, the flattop left its home port of Bremerton, Wash., on Aug. 22 and headed south to pick up the San Diego-based cruiser Mobile Bay and two North Island Naval Air Station helicopter squadrons.
The group sailed out of San Diego Bay on Sept. 1.
On Sept. 11, the ships were still in the Pacific, according to a Facebook video of a Sept. 11, 2001, remembrance ceremony held that day in the Stennis hangar bay and a Navy photo of the event.
On Sept. 15, the ship posted a Facebook video in which Gaouette said that the carrier group was in the Pacific, heading toward the Indian Ocean. In late September, the ship stopped in Malaysia. In early October, it performed exercises off Thailand with the aircraft carrier George Washington.
On Oct. 17, the strike group first entered the U. S. Fifth Fleet region, which is the Arabian Sea and surroundings.
A naval official familiar with the area said that only a warship located in the Mediterranean or Red seas might have helped the Americans attacked in Libya.
That is what I had heard at the time.
If that were true, if he had not stood down, then the outcome in Benghazi would have been different. No help arrived, therefore no one broke the order to stand down.