Posted on 07/11/2018 10:49:45 AM PDT by servo1969
WASHINGTON NAVY YARD – The former commander of USS Fitzgerald (DDG-62) has pleaded not guilty to charges he committed criminal acts leading up to the collision of the guided-missile destroyer, in a Tuesday arraignment.
Cmdr. Bryce Benson is now set to face a general court-martial on charges of negligence and hazarding a vessel, after entering his plea during a brief hearing before a military judge today. The trial is set for Jan. 28.
Benson was in his stateroom asleep when merchant ship ACX Crystal collided with Fitzgerald on June 17, 2017, off the coast of Japan. The collision resulted in the death of seven sailors. The collision also crushed Benson’s cabin and left him hanging on the side of the ship for 15 minutes before the crew rescued him.
While serious, the charges Benson faces do not include negligent homicide charges that were initially announced by the Navy in January.
The Navy pared back criminal charges against Benson and two junior officers aboard Fitzgerald last month. The move from Adm. James F. Caldwell, the officer in charge of overseeing accountability actions for the collisions of Fitzgerald and USS John S. McCain (DDG-56), followed a recommendation from an Article 32 hearing officer who recommended the junior officers not face any criminal charges for their roles in the collision.
[Embedded Document]
For his part, Benson waived his right Article 32 hearing.
Caldwell elected to bring the charges of negligent hazarding a vessel and dereliction of duty resulting in death against Benson and Lt. Natalie Combs. Combs was serving in the destroyer’s Combat Information Center during the collision. Caldwell also determined that Lt. Irian Woodley, who was also on duty in CIC, not face court-martial but be separated from the Navy via an administrative board.
All three received non-judicial punishment soon after the collision, USNI News has learned.
The officer of the deck at the time of the Fitzgerald collision, Lt j.g. Sarah Coppock, pleaded guilty to a single count of negligence for her role in the collision as part of a deal with prosecutors in a special court-martial in May.
McCain’s former commander, Cmdr. Alfredo Sanchez, pleaded guilty to a single count of negligence in a special court-martial. Former McCain Chief Boatswain’s Mate Jeffery Butler, who was responsible for training enlisted watchstanders, pleaded guilty to one count of negligence in a summary court-martial.
In addition to the courts-martial, Caldwell has overseen 18 non-judicial punishments related to both collisions.
In a different era, these bottom feeders would be made to take a walk on the plank.
In the middle of a busy traffic area, the bridge lookout positions were unmanned. That, all by itself, should be enough to court martial and cashier the officer on duty and the captain.
Anyone who put women in charge of navigating the ship have obviously never seen women try to back up a trailer. :)
CO's going to pay the freight for the collision but from what I've read, the two women are toast also.
probably the requirement in the night order book, that the Captain be notified of any ship with a CPA of less than XXXX yards.
That area isn’t just busy, it’s notorious. How the captain could sleep at night with these idiots on watch is beyond me. Could the captain has assigned people to oversee these wenches? Or slept during the day?
“Being complacent was the standard on USS Fitzgerald.”
Only if Fleet sailing directives required lookouts to be posted. They did when I was in the Navy many years ago. They may no longer be required by current policy. The ship was sailing under a normal steaming watch at the time.
This looks like another skirmish in the prescriptiveness versus descriptiveness wars. Prescriptive means using something as set down by the rules. Descriptive is simply noting what is out there and going with the majority.
Take your pick. I suspect conservatives tend to be more rule-following than liberals and that’s how it would break out in this matter. But that’s just a guess.
Yep.
Pled.
You are probably right.
“So the increased punishment is effectively a couple thousand dollars fine and a misdemeanor conviction on a charge of dereliction resulting in death? What was the point?”
Exactly - this was pure show, which should be the LAST consideration in deciding whether to bring a court-martial action.
How ever, throughout the collision incident her hair looked nice
I can see reaming the Captain on general principles but why the HELL doesn’t the OOD go down hard? How on earth is this sensible or even possible?
This isn’t the Chester Nimitz or Hyman Rickover Navy (let alone, JP Jones and DG Farragut) Navy anymore.
They would have suggested that the captain commit suicide for management incompetence rather than expose the Navy to the embarrassment of a court martial for an accident like this.
And the captain would have complied willingly.
In the Imperial Japanese Navy, quite possible. Cite some examples of U.S. Navy ship captains committing suicide to avoid embarrassing the Navy
“It’s unusual to follow [non-judicial punishment] with a court-martial,” Rob “Butch” Bracknell, a former Marine and military lawyer, told USNI News on Tuesday.
“So the increased punishment is effectively a couple thousand dollars fine and a misdemeanor conviction on a charge of dereliction resulting in death? What was the point?”
Actually, the UCMJ permits court-martial even after lower level punishment. It has to do matching the seriousness of the offense against the limited punishments that the lesser judicial venues (NJP, Summary, Special Courts Martial) can hand out. An extreme (and absurd) example of this would be attempting to dispose of murder charges through company-level NJP. In this case, NJP, even at the command level was simply inappropriate for an officer whose actions (and inactions/omissions), at least in part, resulted in the deaths of seven sailors and significant damage to a United States Navy surface combatant.
“Butch” doesn’t seem to think that the punishment amounts to much. I agree the fine is inconsequential. A punitive letter of reprimand from a Admiral or Vice Admiral is a career ender.
That was probably already in the cards. Don’t know if she is a Naval Academy graduate or came up through a college NROTC program. Either way she has at least 8 or more years invested in a now ruined career. She will stay on active duty to fulfill whatever pretrial deal struck with the prosecution concerning the other pending court cases. Then she probably will resign. If she was permitted to say, she has very limited prospects for another promotion. And unpromotability (new word?) would eventually force her out anyways. She would be on the street well short of retirement.
Probably better to just start building the new life after the Navy as soon as possible. As a civilian, she will have to carefully edit what she says and to whom she reveals details of her naval service.
Not in a position to know specifically how it will effect her ability to get a government job or retain her security clearance. Won’t help, that’s for sure.
While the incompetent crew is a factor, it does not relieve the Captain of his responsibility.
The ship was navigating through the Straits of Hormuz, one of the most hazardous sea channels in the World.
40 years ago I passed through that channel on the USS Turner Joy and we witnessed a cruiser in our task force that nearly missed colliding with a merchant ship that night.
Their radar blips merged on the screen — it was that close.
And our Captain was on-deck. He posted me as an extra Junior Officer of the Deck on the port-side bridge. This was sometime around midnight.
Besides, the Captain should be well-aware of his officers’ incompetence.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.