Navy filing homicide charges against commanders in 2 deadly ship collisions

[jmowreader]

Source: Stars and Stripes

WASHINGTON — The Navy says it is filing negligent homicide charges against the commanders of two ships involved in fatal collisions last year.

The charges are to be presented at what the military calls an Article 32 hearing, which will determine whether the accused are court-martialed.

Read more: https://www.stripes.com/news/us/navy-filing-homicide-charges-against-commanders-in-2-deadly-ship-collisions-1.506966

[irisblue]

1. This is a big deal.

[PoliticAverse]

2. Link to the Navy press release...

http://www.navy.mil/submit/display.asp?story_id=104024

USS Fitzgerald: Courts-martial proceedings/Article 32 hearings are being convened to review evidence supporting possible criminal charges against Fitzgerald members. The members' ranks include one Commander (the Commanding Officer), two Lieutenants, and one Lieutenant Junior Grade. The charges include dereliction of duty, hazarding a vessel, and negligent homicide.

USS John S. McCain: Additionally, for John S. McCain, one court- martial proceeding/Article 32 hearing is being convened to review evidence supporting possible criminal charges against one Commander (the Commanding Officer). The charges include dereliction of duty, hazarding a vessel, and negligent homicide. Also, one charge of dereliction of duty was preferred and is pending referral to a forum for a Chief Petty Officer.

[procon]

3. Are they being charged because they were at fault or because they were in charge?

Not much in the story and I don't know if the military rules are different. People were killed so there should be an accounting, does that ultimately fall on the commanders regardless?

[Kaleva]

4. As they were in charge, it was their responsibility and thus their fault.

[Lurks Often]

5. Looks like either at fault or gross negligence

The US Navy doesn't normally charge a CO with negligent homicide just because there is an incident.

The gross negligence would probably be numerous occurrences of standard procedures not being followed either by the captain or the other senior officers or numerous officers and/or enlisted not properly trained or supervised.

And in the case of the USS McCain collision, the captain was on the bridge.

[denbot]

6. Ex Navy Operations Specialist here, those commanders are in deep shit.

There is no excuse for a Destroyer to be hit by a freighter. I rode a tin can (Guided Missile Destroyer). Destroyers are known as “The Greyhounds of the Sea”, they can outrun, and out maneuver just about anything of the same tonnage that floats.

We in CIC (Combat Information Center) back stop the bridge at all times. There were redundant personnel and equipment active dedicated to preventing collisions.

Layers of procedures, backed by over two centuries of operational experience are tasked with preventing such tragedies. That these two collisions occurred within a year, baffles me and every navy veteran I have spoken to about these incidents.

[Skittles]

7. but you must have some theories?

you want I should kick your Special Ops Ass and get them out of you? Seriously, WTF HAPPENED HERE

[haele]

9. I have a couple theories. They all deal with technology and/or training and morale.

But since I don't have access to the accident FRB (Failure Review Board), everything I have is a theory. I'm very sure Technology and training played a big part in what happened on both ships - and I know from rumors (working at a Navy command where there are sailors around who had been stationed on both ships) about how poor morale caused by poor leadership concentrating on the petty rather than the overall probably made the situation worse on one of the ships.
But again, everything I can suggest is nothing but conjecture until Proceedings comes out with the causality report.

Haele

(On edit - if you want to know what really happened when the Vincennes shot down the Iranian airliner back in the mid 1980's, I know people who were there - in fact, I was stationed with the doofus who was too stupid to do his job and made the initial critical mistake - and got the whole story. I also have a good idea who was actually behind the attempt to blow up the Captain's minivan with a pipe bomb when they came back into port.)

[Skittles]

10. ooh

I will be googling Vincennes to refresh my memory; I never heard about the pipe bomb incident

[keithbvadu2]

8. Yet stable genius kills our troops in his sh.thole countries by refusing them the resources to do th

Yet stable genius kills our troops in his sh.thole countries by refusing them the resources to do their jobs.

Too bad the CinC cannot be court martialed for dereliction of duty.

Trump says he knows more then the generals.

All that spare time playing golf when he could have been planning missions and not killing soldiers by assigning less qualified underlings to the task of mission planning.

Our military requested more resources for Niger mission(s) but the Trump administration refused them.

http://www.latimes.com/world/la-fg-trump-niger-20171019-story.html