US Navy fires 2 more commanders over recent ship collisions
The US Navy has fired two senior commanders in the Asia Pacific region in connection with two recent deadly collisions of warships, as part of a sweeping dismissal of leadership in the Japan-based 7th Fleet.
Vice Admiral Phil Sawyer, commander of the 7th Fleet, fired Rear Admiral Charles Williams and Captain Jeffrey Bennett, citing a loss of confidence in their ability to command, the US Navy said Monday.
Williams was the commander of Task Force 70, which includes the aircraft carriers, destroyers and cruisers in the 7th Fleet, and Bennett was commander of the destroyer squadron.
The announcement comes less than a month after the US Navy fired the previous 7th Fleet commander, Joseph Aucoin, who was dismissed on August 23.
The latest dismissals bring the number of fired senior commanders to six.
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has revealed that American sailors on board lacked critical training in both collisions, which killed a total of 17 sailors.
Last month, the USS John S. McCain, a guided-missile destroyer named after the Arizona senator’s father and grandfather, collided with a Liberian-flagged oil tanker near the entrance to the Strait of Malacca, one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes. The collision killed 10 sailors and injured five others.
The incident came nearly two months after seven US Navy sailors lost their lives on board the USS Fitzgerald, another guided-missile destroyer of the 7th Fleet, as the warship crashed into a container ship south of Japan.
US Navy vessels were involved in two more collisions in Asia this year. In January, the USS Antietam ran aground near its base in Japan, and in May, the USS Lake Champlain collided with a South Korean fishing vessel.
The Pacific Fleet is in the process of carrying out a ship by ship review of its vessels, looking at navigation, mechanical systems, bridge resource management and training.
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