Posted on 02/11/2005 9:19:28 PM PST by SmithL
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The captain of a U.S. submarine that hit an undersea mountain last month in the western Pacific, killing one sailor and injuring 23 others, will be relieved of command, Pentagon officials said Friday.
Navy Cmdr. Kevin Mooney will not be charged with any crime and will not be court-martialed.
He received a nonjudicial punishment, most likely in the form of a letter of reprimand from his commander, this week, officials said. Such punishment typically ends an officer's career.
Mooney was reassigned pending an investigation after the severely damaged the USS San Francisco returned to its home port in Guam. Details of the investigation were not available.
(Excerpt) Read more at edition.cnn.com ...
message to Captain McVay. all clear and no reason to zig zag with the Indianapolis
Navigation by Braille is rarely considered career-enhancing.
there may be reasons we may never know why the Navy decided to do this.
Yeah, there's always reasons. However, a lot of them are just plain assinine. This skipper should be commended for his handling of the situation but that is not the Navy's way. There way is, an accident you are history. End of story.
Perhaps the Navy brass just don't like skippers who happen to be unlucky.
As I pointed out on the other thread, CDR Mooney understood the rules of the game when he accepted command. I don't have to like it, but I can't say I'm surprised.
Sad to see it happen to a good man. Hope he doesn't think he's lost our respect.
Our military is the best ever. Possibly the core of a new greatest generation.
Perhaps the Navy brass just don't like skippers who happen to be unlucky.
No. For every action there is a reaction and in the case of the Navy it had better be very obvious and again, in this case, it is. Think Captain Bucher, USS Pueblo.
Captain Mooney brought his boat home under their own power, and most of the crew survived after an accident that should have sent them down to join the likes of the Thresher and the Scorpion. That makes Mooney one of the good guys in my book, or ANY book, IMHO.
I was on the USS Dubuque and we were unrepping the USS Vincennes back in the 80's off the coast of South Korea.
My C.O. ordered an emergency break away because of the way the OOD on the Vincennes was driving the ship. To make a long story short there was a collision, it was the fault of the Vincennes bridge team, neither C.O. was relieved. Don't know about the bridge team on the Vicennes though.
You could regain grace in the eyes of the community if you posted a real juicy crevo or Mary Mother of God post (or something). Come on man, where's your head (we don't have time for nonsense)?
Sorry, but this did not happen while engaged in combat with the enemy, so no purple heart or Navy Cross for the crew.
When I served on the CinCPacFlt staff, one common thread ran through the CO's punishment for a mishap. If he stood tall and knew that he was responsible for everything that happened on his ship, the punishment was generally fair. When he blamed it on the stupidity of his troops (which was generally the case), the book was thrown at him.
At USNA you are taught a telling phrase when you screw up. "No excuse, sir."
I have no idea what went on in both his message traffic or other correspondence, but he seems to be borderline, especially in view of the light punishment.
Bummer. But I knew it was coming. As others have said, it may not seem fair, but is the Navy way.
And we know there's 3 ways to do things:
The right way
The wrong way
The Navy way
The BQN-17! Man you make me feel old! I was the sonar officer who took the first BQN-17 to sea for trials. I bet you did'nt loose transmitter modules when someone pushed "lamp test" ;-)
As for taking CDR Mooney to Admirals mast. This was probably done to protect him from further, more serious charges because the Admiral liked him and thought he should be spared any further legal proceedings.
SEA STORY: One of our sailors did something really stupid, while drunk, in a shore patrol shack (involving one of those "penetration however slight ..." articles in the UCMJ). The shore patrol charged him, and he was going to face Courts Martial when we got back to the states. Real hard jail time could have resulted from that. Our Captain took him to mast on the way back, and protected him from further prosecution. Sure the sailor's career was ended, but he didn't have to face a public trial on what he had done, or go to jail.
One of the lessons I have taken from such incidents is that human screw-ups almost never seem to be random accident. After careful investigation you almost always end up with the conclusion that it was a deliberate premeditated conspiracy.
There are two reasons the CO got nailed. One, he should not have approached restricted water without having a look see in control. Two, he should have known that among that team there was no one with extrasensory common-sense. It is amazing how many officers you can put in one place, none of whom will step back and say this makes no sense.
I was a Boomer Rider: Roosevelt(600), Washington(598), & Vallejo(658)
The recent soundings in the area off Sumatra show that a massive ridge and canyon system in the area was created by the earthquake.
With the sea floor changing all the time due to geological upheavals, how can the Navy be sure that vast areas of the world's oceans remain as charted? My take is that this area wasn't even charted with any degree of accuracy.
Would forward sonar ranging have picked up the undersea mount? Is that SOP for subs when underway or are they supposed to maintain silence? Most of us non-Navy types would like to know something about standard procedures in subs and how they affected this accident for good or ill.
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