Ha,ha. However, that is my position on this Navy debacle. From my research, the Captain had to have permission from further up Chain and they coordinate with the State Department for liberty ports. I doubt the Captain made the call, but he screwed up with the letter.
I keep asking if once he knew of the infection on board, if he notified his Admiral and/or CinCPacFleet before sending the letter. The acting Sec of Navy was beyond the pale in his remarks.
WTF happened to my professional Navy with this and 2 collisions with lumbering freighters? Political Correctness? Sub-standard training? In-fighting between the female OOD and the female commander of CIC on the Ferguson? What?
I don’t know. The Army has changed quite a bit from my days in green so it’s not only the Navy!
As soon as the story hit the news I said he never should have gone outside the chain of command (San Francisco Chronicle - seriously?) and I would have felt that way regardless of what size ship, but my God, one of our deployed aircraft carriers?????? Seriously? There are strategic assets and then there are aircraft carriers!
Announcing to the world that the ship was mission ineffective on a personal email was way out of bounds for our national security, to his chain of command, and to the families of those sailors. His name ain’t Clinton and his email was a career ending event and he had to know that.
He doesn't ask permission. He is assigned ports of call by the operating command as part of his deployment mission, and in part is for diplomatic / foreign policy / show the flag reasons. Sailors in port spending money is part of that.
The captain was not forced to allow liberty call.