Free Republic

The commanding officer of the guided-missile destroyer John Finn was relieved of command Friday. Cmdr. Angela Gonzales was relieved “due to a loss of confidence in her ability to fulfill her responsibilities in leading the ship,” according to a brief Navy statement issued Saturday. As is the case with nearly every Navy CO firing, no other information was provided regarding the reasons for Gonzales being relieved of command. John Finn is assigned to U.S. 7th Fleet in Yokosuka, Japan. Cmdr. Matthew Hays has assumed interim commanding officer duties, and Gonzales has been reassigned to Naval Surface Force Pacific. US Navy...

New details have emerged of how mysterious drones harassed U.S. warships off California on multiple occasions in 2019. The Navy has yet to determine where the drones came from, who was operating them, or why they buzzed around a group of U.S. destroyers. The incidents were first reported by documentary filmmaker Dave Beaty, with new details obtained by news website The Drive using Freedom of Information Act requests to get the ships' logs of the encounters. The vessels involved were the destroyers USS Kidd, USS Rafael Peralta and USS John Finn. They were engaged in a training exercise in a...

The U.S. Navy announced Wednesday morning that it has named one of its new ships after Marine Sgt. Rafael Peralta, a San Diego native who died a hero in Iraq in 2004. Navy Secretary Ray Mabus announced the move, saying a new guided-missile destroyer will be named the USS Rafael Peralta. A Pentagon statement said Mabus named that ship and two other new destroyers after Navy and Marine Corps heroes whose actions occurred during different conflicts but "were united in their uncommon valor." Peralta was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross after using his body to shield fellow Marines from an...