The Top Leaders Of A Navy Ship Were Fired In The Middle Of Their Deployment

[xchrom]

http://www.businessinsider.com/relief-uss-james-williams-2014-9



The three top leaders of the guided missile destroyer USS James E. Williams (DDG-95) have been removed and reassigned halfway through the ship's deployment pending the outcome of an investigation into "command climate," the Navy said in a news release Tuesday.

The skipper, Cmdr. Curtis B. Calloway, was relieved at sea by Capt. Anthony L. Simmons, who will take charge of the ship for the rest of the deployment as an investigation moves forward. Calloway, along with Cmdr. Ed Handley, the executive officer, and Command Master Chief Travis Biswell, the top enlisted leader, have been reassigned to staff positions at Naval Surface Force Atlantic.

Other than announcing the high-profile firings and mentioning an investigation, the official word from the Navy offered few details. But as Sam LaGrone notes at the U.S. Naval Institute, the removal of the entire command staff at the same time is quite rare.

The Navy Times offered one possibility as to why:

A Navy official who spoke on background to discuss a sensitive matter said there is a separate investigation being conducted by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service into a liberty incident that occurred in the Sixth Fleet area of operations, but declined to divulge further details.



Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/relief-uss-james-williams-2014-9#ixzz3DZMGg1KC

[stevenleser]

1. Very bad news for those three officers. It must be really bad. nt

[hootinholler]

9. 2 Officers, 1 Enlisted

Ironically, the enlisted man has Officer in his title.

[Aristus]

15. Not ironically. Non-Commissioned Officers are in the enlisted ranks.

It's been that way for centuries.

[hootinholler]

16. I always thought it ironic

Especially while I was in the Navy.

[Recursion]

2. Wow

A relief like that at sea is nearly unheard of.

[TheVisitor]

3. TheVisitor

Oh yes, something definitely went down...

[msanthrope]

11. I'm guessing NCIS found a compliant witness who will testify as to the coverup

regarding this incident.....

http://www.navytimes.com/article/20140728/NEWS/307280039/Sailor-dies-aboard-destroyer-Williams

I'm also betting the forensics are in.

[Recursion]

12. Good catch (nt)

[msanthrope]

14. Poster downthread pointed me in the right direction. I'm guessing

that a mere suicide alone would not cause this removal. (To other posters, I am not minimizing a suicide, only pointing out that it happens in the military and generally does not cause this blowback.)

There is mention of a "liberty incident" and then a possible suicide of a young, attractive female sailor. For this to take out the top three on a ship, I'm thinking that not only did some serious shit go down, but NCIS is confident enough in their forensics and witnesses to take action.

I would not be surprised if arrests are made...and I'm sure NCIS prefers to make those arrests on "land" as opposed to frogmarching brass off a ship.

[Eleanors38]

13. Somebody pilfered the strawberries from the Caine's freezer.

[Hoppy]

4. Maybe they misbehaved at a Tailhook Conference.

[Baitball Blogger]

5. They'll probably retire and move into my neighborhood.

Just saying, these kind of problems just get shipped Stateside.

[Ikonoklast]

6. Woah. Something really, really bad went down involving those three.

A criminal investigation for what happened while they were on liberty, not good.

[Jeff Murdoch]

7. Comment in linked story leads to this story.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/jul/29/navy-investigating-ship-death-female-sailor-23-sui/

[justiceischeap]

8. Maybe not a suicide at all. nt

[Katashi_itto]

10. As former Navy. If they were relieved. Their careers are gone.