USS Tortuga officers relieved of duty

Stars and Stripes ^ | 11 Jan 09 | Teri Weaver

[chainsaw]

Both Zuhowski and Burke remain on active duty and face no loss of rank or punishment,

However, this means the end of their naval career. I wonder what they did.

[Non-Sequitur]

Must be a big amphibious group if it requires a Commodore and a Vice-Commodore

Four ships: USS Essex (LHD2), USS Denver (LPD-9), USS Tortuga (LSD-46) and USS Harpers Ferry (LSD-49).

[Non-Sequitur]

Any pics available of these guys?

The Tortuga website already has the new pictures up.

[Non-Sequitur]

Any pics available of these guys?

Link

I'm guessing that Zuhowski is the commander seated to the left. Doesn't look like a wuss.

[tanknetter]

The Commodore is simply the senior Captain who's in charge of a Amphibious Ready Group. In this case Comphibron 11 out of Sasebo, Japan.

It's funny how there are so many different understanding of the definition of the word out there.

My understanding was that a "Commodore" was a Captain who is in a Rear Admiral's post.

[Non-Sequitur]

CO and XO-something ugly happened.

If the ship runs aground or collides with something then the skipper gets the ax. If the skipper is diddling one of the crew then the skipper gets the ax. If there are major morale problems then the skipper gets the ax. But for the captain and the XO to get yanked it has to have something to do with availability. My guess is that they completely blew a readiness survey or something like that. And while it won't make the papers, I'm betting that one or more of the department heads will be relieved within the next few weeks as they sort things out.

[B-Chan]

Wow. Somebody screwed the pooch.

[bert]

.....commodore ....

Commodore is a one star and just above Captain.

Commander is equivalent to Lt Colonel.

[Big_Monkey]

As a former Marine with 20, I can say that without equivocation, CO of a Naval vessel his the most demanding job in the armed forces. Civilians and people from other branches of service cannot even begin to understand the pressure and responsibility the the command of a ship at sea brings.

My hats off to anyone who navigates a successful career as a naval surface officer.

[zkbeta51]

It’s a position, not rank in the navy.

[gridlock]

That’s the second skipper relieved for lack-of-confidence in as many weeks. Coincidence, or is something going down?

Reminds me of the opening chapters of Red Storm Rising by Tom Clancey. When the Soviets were getting ready for war, the first thing they did was shoot a bunch of Colonels who had been derelict in their duties.

[wita]

Perhaps of interest and a Happy New Year and a Merry Christmas
from Las Vegas NV. Got your Christmas Greeting, thanks. Haven’t done anything in that area as we left SD on or about the 20th of Dec and I’m still out of town.

[gridlock]

Back in the early 1980s, a real-live Commodore complete with a single star on his epaulette...

Back in the early 1980s, I had a Commodore 64. I adored that 64!

[wita]

PS forgot to delete your screen name in previous post so the ping and greeting was to Dakota Gator, if there was some confusion generated.

[OA5599]

...since the birth of the U.S. Navy in 1798.

Just as the US Coast Guard uses the date of the creation of the US Revenue Cutter Service as its official start date, the US Navy uses the date that the Continental Navy was created. October 13, 1775.

The Department of the Navy was created in May of 1798, but we briefly had a navy prior to that controlled by the War Department. There was the Naval Act of 1794 which authorized six frigates built (including the USS Constitution), with the first three launched in 1797. There had been no ships in the navy since the USS Alliance, launched in 1778, was sold in 1785.

Kind of tricky to say with precision when our navy began.

[Virginia Ridgerunner]

Thanks for the correction. I was using the 1798 creation of the Navy department and the beginning of the “super frigate” construction program as the starting date for the U.S. Navy, but clearly the Navy existed in a much smaller form during the Rev War and after.

[lt.america]

The CMC was probably too obese to exit the ship. He will eventually become part of the ship Pirates of the Caribbean style.

[OA5599]

No problem. It's funny that in an organization which demands incredible precision from its members such as the US Navy, there's no clear cut start date or consistency in the position and former rank of Commodore.

I mean, when I was in the USN, we had bizzare uniform regulations which included allowing us to wear coveralls in one particular building on the second floor, but not the first.

[2harddrive]

Perhaps they failed to meet their affirmative-action “goals”.

[msrngtp2002]

I retired in 1989. One of the ships I was on (I was a senior chief at the time), went through a shipyard overhaul. When we went out for sea trials the CO didn’t think everything was properly secured so at full power with a 20 knot wind behind he did a hard turn to port. With the added force of the wind and the normal heel of the turn, the ship heeled over about 40 degrees. It was a repair ship and that amount of heel actually broke the hold down welds for lathes, steel cabinets and desks. Things were flying all over the place. I happened to be in the Chief’s Mess at the time - the ship heeled over so much that coffee was actually spilling out of the TOP of the huge coffee maker. About 50 got hurt with several requiring helo medevac.

The XO was not aboard. The CO, Ops officer, and Damage Control Assistant were all relieved the moment the ship tied up to the pier. I believe others were relieved as well but can’t remember them all (it was 25 years ago after all). The incident was called lack of confidence.

That was, by far the scariest moment of my Navy career hanging on wondering how to get out of a capsized ship.

So lack of confidence is probably a nice way of saying they screwed up big time as anything criminal would result in charges.