Navy relieves submarine commander of duties [USS Jimmy Carter]

WCBS880.com ^

[Sub-Driver]

Navy relieves submarine commander of duties Tuesday January 27, 2004 GROTON, Conn. (AP) The Navy has relieved a submarine commander of his duties, saying it lost confidence in his abilities to command.

Cmdr. David J. Bartholomew Jr. assumed command of the Jimmy Carter about a year ago. The Seawolf-class submarine is still under construction at Electric Boat in Groton.

Bartholomew would have overseen the submarine's joining the fleet in 2005.

The Navy released few details about the incident.

Commanders are typically dismissed when the ``command climate'' of a ship is threatened, said Lt. Philip R. Rosi, a Navy spokesman.

``The decisions made by Cmdr. Bartholomew led to, or could have led to, the degradation of good order and discipline,'' Rosi said.

Bartholomew was temporarily reassigned to the staff of Submarine Group Two at the base, pending further disciplinary or administrative action, Rosi said.

Bartholomew, a native of Medfield, Mass., is a 1983 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy. He made two demanding Mediterranean deployments as captain of the USS Annapolis.

[bkwells]

Attack subs used to be named after fish and boomers after cities.

The current class of attack subs are named after cities (Los Angeles, Dallas, Annapolis, etc...) and the current class of boomers are named after states (Ohio, Maryland, etc...)

[PattonReincarnated]

ROFL ... BTW I have a rabbit trained to go after liberals - not joking.

[Quix]

Yeah, have known some like the CO.

Reminds me of my Disst. Chairman's advice about avoiding wrestling with a skunk.

Have often pondered how to minimize prima donna idiots who are skillful socializers and people pleasers, manipulaters while being inherently selfish, arrogant and evil--in the military--from rising in power and position. Have never been able to think of anything sufficiently reliable, doable and clever beyond what is already in place.

The best thing I know of is to reward excellence in character as well as technical performance. I've grown to think that excellence in character is probably more important. One can usually find less admirable folks who have various parts of the technical stuff down.

Then there's the whole issue of scoundral atnys running the nation from the Capitol in Wash, DC. Sigh.

[Pan_Yan]

I was on a new construction in Newport News (USS Greeneville), and having seen the boats out of 'Rotten Groton.' You can have them. It was like night and day in the quality department. I don't think Electric Boat has put out a decent warship in thirty years. Sub Captain Ted has done a good job keeping them in business along with the rest of the Mass Mafia.

The USS San Juan (christened by Hitlery, speaking of curses) is such a piece of junk they basically use it exclusively for giving tours.

The USS Greeneville was christened by Miss PMRC (Tipper) herself and has since sunk a fishing boat full of teenagers and run aground at least once.

The moral of the story is clear: keep lefties away from the military. Their very presence is a curse and endangers lives. God keep the poor men who have to smile and shake the hands of Americas biggest loser at the commissioning.

[j_tull]

Sounds more like he didn't listen to his goat locker

As it turns out, you're right. Didn't know about the extracurriculars at the time of the post.

[j_tull]

The with the Ohio class they were named after states.

With the notable exception of the USS Henry M. Jackson, SSBN-730 (originally Rhode Island), renamed by Pres Reagan two weeks before commissioning. There was some serious floppin' and twitchin' getting the signage changed.

[LibKill]

My bet:

It involves alcohol, "improper relationships" with Navy women, or some combination thereof.

A good bet. Second choice is that he said something "politically incorrect."

I was in a unit where the C.O. (politely, ever so politely, no cuss words) suggested that perhaps the problems of one of his WM officers had been caused because she just may have been less than a saint (sexually).

She went crying to DACOWITS. He disappeared a few days later. No change of command ceremony. No reading of the orders.

He disappeared, like one of Stalin's victims.

[MistrX]

Whence the term 'goatlocker'?

[Snickersnee]

"Soldier in the Rain" 1962, Jackie Gleason, Steve McQueen, and (drum roll, please) the lucious Ann-Margret. Wotta babe!

[Johnny_Cipher]

It comes from the term "old goat," describing the age/experience of chief petty officers.

[Poohbah]

His crew must not have been passing their pre-startup nuke inspections.

Nope, he was boinking a JO's wife...said JO being in his wardroom.

[SquirrelKing]

LOL! Maybe THAT's why Dean has been so calm lately.

[Rubber_Duckie_27]

I may be a moron here, but how do those morons in the People's Republic of Massachusetts have a thing to do with keeping EB in business in Connecticut/Rhose Island? Our congressman from the district that includes Groton is a Republican (finally!) - Simmons was a Vietnam vet and army Reservist, and served in the CIA for 10 years. He's pretty decent on issues involving the military.

The Jimmy Carter should be a good boat on paper if she ends up with the capabilities she's supposed to have. Still, I've heard stories about the Seawolf being called "Building 21" because she's so rarely at sea due to maintenance issues. The Seawolf class in general seems overpriced for what you get...then again their only purpose was keeping EB running until the Viriginia class started up.

[Pan_Yan]

My apologies. I should have broadened the scope to be the New England congressional delegation. Thats the problem with some of my tyraids. They can be like a shotgun blast with the eyes squeezed shut.

To be honest, General Dynamics is headquartered in Virginia, which has caused John Warner no small amount of anguish, since Newport News is the states largest employer.

On a side note, do you remember when Electric Boat had to scrap the first two Seawolf hulls because they put them together with the wrong welding rods? The USS Greeneville was one of the prototypes for a lot of the Seawolf equipment, so we got some pretty good info on how things were going up there.

[Castlebar]

The ship was named for Carter, a graduate of the Naval Academy, because he is the only president who ever served in the submarine service

This is one of the most annoyingly persistent myths about James Earl Carter. He briefly did a summer cruise, during his midshipman days, on a submarine. After graduation from Annapolis, Carter became one of Emperor Rickover's butt-licking sycophant yes men. (Godfather Hyman helped Jimmy wriggle out of the canoe club after only two yeras' service.) He never served day one aboard a nuclear submarine.

[Rubber_Duckie_27]

Yup, I remember the hull incident. The morons have been building submarines for the Navy for this long, you'd think they'd know better.

Now that Newport News and EB are building the Virginia class in tandem, the EB travel budget got obscene. They've got a commuter plane flying down to Virginia twice a day so engineers and management types can confer with the Newport News guys.

I did a project for EB in college, and several college buddies wound up working there. EB does good work, it's just inconsistent. Their workers have little crossover in terms of skills useable in the civilian sector - which is their weakness as a shipbuilder.

[GigaDittos]

Yup, it's a magic thing.

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

Looks like the Jimmy Carter is a jinxed ship before even leaving the shipyard!

I don't know for sure, but considering that the boat is still in the shipyard under construction and is probably undergoing propulsion plant testing, the CO may have been relieved for making a bad decision that resulted in a violation of nuclear reactor safety rules. Just a thought...

[LN2Campy]

Couldn't be a JO from his wardroom -- no gals on subs.

[Sub-Driver]

rumor is DUI with some women other than this wife