Sub’s top officers reprimanded in deaths

Stars & Stripes ^ | 01-17-07 | Sandra Jontz

[mfnorman]

NAPLES, Italy — The commander and the former executive officer of the submarine USS Minneapolis-St. Paul received punitive letters of reprimand Tuesday, following a hearing on the fatal December incident in which two sailors were swept off the sub’s surface during bad weather, a Navy official said.

Rear Adm. Jeff Fowler, commander of Submarine Group 8, conducted five nonjudicial punishment hearings Tuesday related to the Dec. 29 incident and issued letters of reprimand for the top two officers, said Lt. Chris Servello, a spokesman with Naval Forces Europe/6th Fleet. Fowler dismissed charges against three other crewmembers: two officers and a chief petty officer, Servello said.

The sub’s commander, Cmdr. Edwin Ruff, took command of the Minneapolis-St. Paul in December 2004. Servello declined to name the former executive officer, citing privacy laws. Typically, information on nonjudicial punishment hearings is not released publicly. The former executive officer had been replaced because of a normal rotational cycle, not because of the incident.

[bmwcyle]

Water is a powerful thing. Our sub went to sea and we could not close the upper weapons shipping hatch due to ruff seas. We had a diver washed over but recovered and a chief had two lines hooked together. He was going down the side of the sail and a wave took him off the ladder. The next wave came by and as the water receded, he was hanging back on the ladder.

[ArrogantBustard]

Thank you.

[ansel12]

"Submarining is still a hazardous profession, even for professional submariners."




Do they have a high rate of death and serious injury compared to what we generally consider hazardous jobs?

[stinkerpot65]

Our entire military command is a gutless, politically correct joke.