Your 2023 relieved Naval Commander Thread

Apparently, Denzel did not get the nod for command.

USS Alabama (SSBN 731) Commanding Officer Relieved

The commanding officer of USS Alabama (SSBN 731) (Blue Crew), Cmdr. Michael Lyle, was relieved of command Sep. 22, 2023, by Rear Adm. Nicholas Tilbrook, Commander, Submarine Group 9, due to a loss of confidence in his ability to command.

Cmdr. Larry J. Arbuckle, deputy commodore of Commander, Submarine Squadron 17, has assumed duties as interim commanding officer.
 
I read this earlier and took to Twitter to try to find a rumored reason; not much to find other than comments that is it pretty rare to see this happen on a Boomer.

Very true, but unfortunately in this day and age the skipper could do one of a million things (which may or may not matter) and find their career ruined. The "loss of confidence" statement sounds great and neutral, but fails everyone.
 
I read this earlier and took to Twitter to try to find a rumored reason; not much to find other than comments that is it pretty rare to see this happen on a Boomer.
High stakes when you are operating a nuclear reactor in an underwater tube, that also is carrying enough nuclear weapons to flatten the planet.
 
Thread drift: a good friend of mine retired as a Command Master Chief back in 2013 or so. Most of, or his entire (I forget) career was spent as a Fire Control tech on Boomers. They were conducting a drill one time, "We've just fired our missiles and detect a Russian attack sub. Go through the process to engage the sub" kind of thing.

"Joe": Hey, Chief, if we've launched our missiles why are we engaging? The planet's gone and our families are dead.
Chief: Shut the fuck up, Smith, and do your job.
Another aside: His wife kept a bag of clothes for him to change into after a patrol. Despite the amenities on a Boomer, his uniforms always had a certain smell to them.
 
My bro-in-law's roommate from college and BFF is the CO of a ballistic sub. I have been chatting with him a bit about the COs getting axed. Of course he is very careful about what he says. He says that on paper the confidence of any ship CO from harbor tug to carrier is the same, there is a very real pecking order; the CO of a carrier or boomer has zero room, the CO of a tug has a little more margin. He also says that the CO/XO relationship has to be very good, otherwise the CO is doing XO stuff and the CO stuff is at risk, and little problems occur, which add up to big problems. Also, the public will most often never hear anything beyond "loss of confidence", and if they do, it's because of a high-profile, public event like the Greenville, Fitzgerald, etc.
 
So I have a question….(as another career bites the dust).

Does the Navy do any type of AAR when they ‘fire’ someone? At some point does someone stop and say, “ummm…maybe we should review our selection process and try to figure out why these men and women whom we once held in such high regard, are failing at an embarrassing rate. Are they not ready (trained) properly for the job the command they are being assigned?”

Navy fires captain of guided-missile cruiser USS Lake Erie

The commanding officer of the USS Lake Erie, Capt. Danielle DeFant, was fired on October 12 due to “a loss of confidence in her ability to command.”

DeFant — who is a ‘mustang,’ or naval officer who began her career as an enlisted sailor — was in command of the Lake Erie, a Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser, after several years of shore duty. She commanded the USS Paul Hamilton from March 2016 to December 2017 and had been assigned to various shore duty positions since, including in the office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy’s Global Force Management before returning to the Lake Erie.
 
Back
Top