US Navy confirms demotion of captain of virus-hit carrier

WASHINGTON, United States - The US Navy said Friday it would not reinstate the captain of a coronavirus-stricken aircraft carrier, saying he was in part to blame for the severity of the crisis on the warship.

Brett Crozier, who was fired as captain of the USS Theodore Roosevelt in April, was guilty of "questionable judgment" in handling an outbreak of COVID-19 aboard the nuclear-powered ship in March, said Admiral Michael Gilday, chief of naval operations.

Gilday likewise faulted Rear Admiral Stuart Baker, Crozier's direct supervisor as the carrier's strike group commander, for poor leadership.

"It is my belief that both Admiral Baker and Captain Crozier fell well short of what we expect of those in command," Gilday said.

"In reviewing both Admiral Baker's and Captain Crozier's actions, they did not do enough, soon enough, to fulfill their primary obligation" to keep the ship's 5,000 crew safe.

After a two-month investigation, the Navy decided that Crozier would not return to the Roosevelt and not be eligible to captain another ship.

Baker's expected promotion, meanwhile, has been placed on hold, pending further review.

The coronavirus outbreak on board the Roosevelt was one of the first US crises of the pandemic, crippling the massive ship and forcing it to hold for more than a month in port in Guam.

It raised questions about US war-fighting readiness and worries about potential outbreaks on other ships.

More than 1,000 of the crew, including Crozier, ultimately tested positive for the disease, though few showed serious symptoms and only one died.

The case broke into the news after a letter written by Crozier complaining of lack of support in dealing with the outbreak was leaked to the media at the end of March.

While an initial probe seemed to support Crozier's complaints, a deeper investigation showed Crozier and Baker both failed to take good command in the face of the crisis, Gilday said.

They "failed" in evacuating sailors off the ship into sequestered facilities in Guam quickly, he said.

Crozier was focused more on the sailors' comfort, arranging hotel rooms rather than accepting facilities already prepared in gyms, Gilday said.

"Get them off quickly was the primary thing," he said.

"The issue here is really standards of performance particularly in crisis."

Questions Raised

The Roosevelt episode raised questions about the US government's and Pentagon's readiness to deal with the coronavirus pandemic.

Crozier's communications suggested that he was being prevented from evacuating the ship in Guam for cleaning and quarantine.

"The spread of the disease is ongoing and accelerating," Crozier wrote on March 30. "We are not at war. Sailors do not need to die."

The publication of the letter sparked a backlash. Then-acting Navy secretary Thomas Modly fired Crozier and flew to Guam to deliver a defiant speech to the ship's crew, in which he accused Crozier of "betrayal."

When that became public, Modly himself was forced to resign.

Gilday's criticisms of Crozier Friday sparked questions of whether the Pentagon leadership was covering for other officials' mistakes, including the order to have the Roosevelt visit Vietnam in early March, where many suspect the shipboard COVID-19 outbreak originated.

"Everyone up and down the chain of command had a role to play in the inadequate response – including then-Acting Secretary of the Navy Modly said Congressman Adam Smith, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee.

"The Department's civilian leadership portrayed Captain Crozier's decision-making aboard the Roosevelt as the critical weakness in the Navy’s response, but the truth is that civilian leadership was also to blame."

Agence France-Presse

Trump fires US Navy chief over handling of discipline case

WASHINGTON- The chief of the US Navy on Sunday criticized Donald Trump after being sacked in a dispute over an elite SEAL commando whose demotion for misconduct was reversed by the president.

Richard Spencer was ousted as Navy Secretary, a civilian position, in a case that has fueled reports that the US military leadership has been angered by Trump's interference in discipline cases.

"I no longer share the same understanding with the Commander in Chief who appointed me, in regards to the key principles of good order and discipline," Spencer said in a stinging letter published by US media.

"I hereby acknowledge my termination as United States Secretary of the Navy."

The dispute centers on the fate of Navy SEAL Edward Gallagher who was accused of war crimes in a high-profile case but was found guilty of a lesser offense.

On Nov. 15, Trump -- the commander-in-chief of the US military -- reversed the demotion handed down to Gallagher.

Trump tweeted on Sunday that Gallagher had been "treated very badly" by the navy and that Spencer had been asked to resign over the issue and over his alleged failure to address budget overruns.

The president said Gallagher would not be expelled from the elite SEAL (Sea, Air, and Land) force.

"Eddie will retire peacefully with all of the honors that he has earned," Trump tweeted.

Defense Secretary Mark Esper said he had asked for Spencer's resignation "after losing trust and confidence in him regarding his lack of candor over conversations with the White House," the Department of Defense said in a statement.

Esper said he was "deeply troubled by this conduct."

TRUMP UNDERCUTS MILITARY?

The US Navy had launched a discipline procedure that could have strip Gallagher and 3 other members of his unit of their prestigious "Trident pins" -- effectively booting them from the SEAL force.

But Trump's interventions appeared to cut short that process.

The president this month also dismissed a second-degree murder conviction against Army First Lieutenant Clint Lorance, who was 6 years into a 19-year term for ordering soldiers in 2012 to fire on 3 unarmed Afghan men on a motorcycle, 2 of whom died.

And he granted clemency to West Point graduate Matt Golsteyn, an ex-member of the elite US Army Green Berets, charged with premeditated murder in the shooting death of an alleged Taliban bomb-maker in 2010.

Gallagher, a Navy SEAL commando, was accused in the stabbing to death of a wounded Islamic State prisoner in Iraq in 2017, attempted murder of other civilians and obstruction of justice.

In July, he was acquitted of charges related to those accusations but was convicted of posing with the slain fighter's body in a group picture with other SEALs.

As a result, he was demoted one rank, from chief petty officer to petty officer first class.

Speaking to Fox News on Sunday, Gallagher accused the navy of acting in retaliation after he lodged a complaint.

"They could have taken my Trident (pin) at any time they wanted," he said. "Now they're trying to take it after the president restored my rank."

Gallagher's case has been strongly championed by Fox News and Trump's conservative base.

But it has also drawn criticism that the president was undermining the military judicial process.

In his letter to Trump on Sunday, Spencer said that he could not "in good conscience obey an order that I believe violates the sacred oath I took... to support and defend the Constitution."

He added that maintaining good order and discipline in the navy's ranks was a "deadly seriously business." 

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Rise in reports of sexual assault at US Navy, Army academies

There was a rise in reports of sexual assault at US Navy and Army military academies in the last year, the Department of Defense said on Wednesday.

An annual report, based on anonymous surveys, said reports of sexual assault in total across the military academies had decreased slightly in the last year, and the Air Force Academy specifically saw a decrease from 49 reports to 32.

But the Military Academy at West Point received 26 reports of sexual assault, up from 17 in the previous year, and the Naval Academy in Annapolis saw three more reports compared to last year.

"This year’s survey results underscore the unique challenges the academies face in sustaining long-term decreases in the occurrence of sexual assault," an accompanying Pentagon statement said.

US Senators grilled the Navy and Marine Corps' top leaders on Tuesday about a scandal involving a Facebook group called "Marines United" for sharing explicit pictures of female members of the armed forces.

The Naval Criminal Investigative Service has opened an inquiry into the matter.

(Reporting by Idrees Ali; Editing by Alistair Bell)

source: news.abs-cbn.com

PNoy approves US Navy's plan to salvage ship

MANILA, Philippines - President Benigno Aquino III has already approved the United States Navy's plan to extricate the USS Guardian at the Tubbataha Reef, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said Thursday.

Commodore Enrico Efren Evangelista, commander of PCG Palawan District and head of task force Tubbataha, said the President approved last night the salvage operations for the USS Guardian.

In an interview with radio dzMM, PCG commandant Rear Admiral Rodolfo Isorena said: "Baka po kung maganda ang panahon baka sa Sunday o Monday e makapagsimula na sila, kasi 'yung prepositioning ng barko may take one or two days... and then siguro on the fourth day saka sila mag-start ng actual operations.”

The US Navy earlier said the “sectioning” of the USS Guardian in several parts appeared to be less destructive. Around 4000 square meters of the World Heritage Site has already been flattened.

Separately, Evangelista said the rigging of the four anchors and the pre-positioning of the Smit Borneo, a salvage ship, are still ongoing. He said the rigging might take two days because it has to be precise in order to prevent any further damage to the reef.

Soon after, heavy equipment like blowers, pumps and other tools will be transferred to the USS Guardian. By that time, containment barriers and safety nets will be put into place.

He added the initial ecological assessment before the operation was done yesterday but the PCG is still waiting for the results. Weather in Tubbataha is favorable today.

Representatives from the US coastguard had visited the PCG office to check on the ongoing operations.

Evangelista added the other crane ship, Jascon, is still in Singapore finalizing its contract. – with reports from Gretchen Malalad, ABS-CBN News

source: abs-cbnnews.com

Tubbataha incident 'embarrassing,' says ex-US envoy

MANILA – Former President Fidel V. Ramos said he finds it difficult to believe the US Navy's explanation about the USS Guardian running aground in the protected reef of Tubbataha.

“That’s a very poor mariner’s excuse even if you were just a small boat commander, but we are talking about a fleet commander…I think he got the wrong map. Fortunately, they were not the ancient maps of you know who,” said Ramos.

The former President was among the dignitaries at the talk of former US Ambassador to the Philippines John Negroponte on US foreign policy in the second Obama administration.

Negroponte considers the incident an embarrassment to the US.

“It needs to get unstuck both in the interest of good seamanship and the interest of the environment…The captain of the vessel certainly did not do what happened on purpose. It was obviously an accident, an unfortunate and you can say embarrassing accident, but it was not a deliberate act,” he said.

The incident has sparked calls for a review of the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) between the United States and the Philippines.

But Negroponte doesn't see a willingness on the part of the US to reopen the VFA.

“The Visiting Forces Agreement, the good thing about it is that it provided a way in which American forces could visit but while operating entirely in full respect of Philippine sovereignty and not re-opening the issue of bases that were closed,” he said.

US-ASEAN ties

In his talk, Negroponte said he sees President Obama revitalizing even more the US alliance with Southeast Asia.

Negroponte said the President is more familiar with Asia than any part of the world.

“The President has now become accustomed to meeting annually with ASEAN leaders, I think that’s a good thing. Secretary Clinton has been coming to the regional forum every year. So those diplomatic exchanges need to be built upon, fortified and deepened,” he said.

Negroponte also referred to the rise of Asia as the political center of gravity in the world, with the Philippines benefiting from its overall economic growth.

“I think one thing that seems to be happening is that Southeast Asia is doing better.  There’s a lot of good things happening in this part of the world and I think the Philippines is benefitting from that. Also, I think our economy is poised to improve somewhat,” said Negroponte.

On China's territorial aggression and continued presence in Scarborough Shoal, Negroponte said the US hopes the conflict will be settled peacefully, but acknowledges a solution seems elusive.

President Obama's inaugural address pledged climate change goals.

Negroponte said the renewed focus on climate change is an opportunity for the US to engage china in a positive way.

Negroponte is in the Philippines for the second board meeting of the newly established US-Philippines Society, whose mission is to raise profile of the Philippines in America. -- ANC

source: abs-cbnnews.com

US Navy will answer for damage to Tubbataha - VFACOM

MANILA - The Presidential Commission on the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFACOM) said the Philippine government will demand an explanation from the US government and hold those responsible for the damage done to the Tubbataha Reef due to the grounding of a minesweeper in the World Heritage Site.

"[Sinasabi ng] VFA na sila ay dapat sumunod sa ating batas. So ito nga ang epekto ng VFA - sila ay dapat sumunod sa ating batas. Sila ay ating pinananagot," VFACOM Executive Director Edilberto Adan told ABS-CBN's "Umagang Kay Ganda."

"They assured us they are cooperating with any action we will take. We are asserting our sovereignty here to make sure that accountability is established at kung ano man ang dapat panagutan, haharapin nila yan."

He denied crew members of the US Navy ship that ran aground beginning Thursday have been released. He said the rescued crew members were taken aboard another US ship but have remained in the country as investigations continue.

"Hindi accurate ang statement na iyon. Sila ay inilapat lamang sa mga rescue vessels na dumating dahil nga iyung ship ay floundering. Nandoon pa rin sila sa US ships na dumating," he said.

Adan was reacting to the claim of Clemente Bautista, Kalikasan People's Network for the Environment national coordinator, that the crew members have left the area without being probed.

The USS Guardian had come from a port call in Subic Bay and was on its way to Indonesia when it ran aground the Tubbataha Reef early morning Thursday. At least 10 meters of the coral reef have been damaged.

The US Navy blamed a faulty navigation chart data that may have misplaced the location of Tubbataha Reef for the grounding.

Lame

Bautista described the US Navy's explanation about the incident as "lame", citing the warship's supposed advanced capabilities.

"Ang USS Guardian ay kilala bilang isang may mahusay na navigation equipment at nakakapagtaka ay papuntang Indonesia ito. Eh pataas ang direction nila, hindi pababa," he said.

Militant group Kadamay also raised fears of a possible "cover-up" into the incident, citing the close ties between the US and the Philippines.

"Malacanang's preferred silence only leads us to believe of a highly possible cover-up in the investigation, and considering the overwhelming puppetry and subservience of the Aquino administration to the US government, and the latter's deeply-entrenched influence on the Philippine politics," Kadamay said in a statement.

Extrication underway

According to Adan, US and Philippine teams were already in the area to extricate the warship and prevent further damage to the corals at the UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The US Navy said that there has been no change on the ship's condition and there are no traces of an oil slick.

"Dalawa na ang salvage tugboats doon at meron isang darating na isang special purpose ship. Ang purpose nito is to control environmental damage kung sakaling may oil spill na tinatawag," he said.

Meanwhile, U.S. 7th Fleet Commander Vice Admiral Scott Swift said he "greatly regret(s) any damage this incident has caused to the Tubbataha Reef"

"We know the significance of the Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park and its importance as a World heritage Site. Its protection is vital, and we take seriously our obligations to protect and preserve the maritime environment," Swift said in a statement.

UNESCO declared the Tubbataha Reef a World Heritage Site in 1993. It covers 130,028 hectares and is home to thousands of marine species. – with ANC

source: abs-cbnnews.com

Fil-Am commands US Navy's newest guided missile destroyer

MANILA, Philippines -- He may have been born and raised in the United States, but Filipino-American US Navy Commander Leopoldo Albea Jr. considers himself more of a Filipino.

Albea, whose parents are originally from Polangui, Albay, is the captain of the USS Wayne E. Meyer (DDG – 108), the US Navy’s latest Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer.

The USS Wayne E. Meyer, along with its sister warship the USS Chafee, arrived last weekend for port and goodwill visit. Both ships are scheduled to leave today and continue with their Asia-Pacific tour.

Albea gave News5 an exclusive tour of his ship and noted he brought to his command the lessons and Filipino values imparted to him by his parents, such as discipline, hard work, gratefulness and the importance of family.

Albea assumed command of the USS Wayne E. Meyer in March 2011. It was a dream come true for any naval officer and is also a source of pride for his father, who served in the US Navy for 28 years His parents met in California when they emigrated to the US in the 60s and settled in Oxnard.

His father, Leopoldo Sr., joined the US Navy as a steward and worked his way up through the ranks, retiring in 1992 with the rank of Command Master Chief – the highest rank an enlisted person can reach. “That meant he was the commanding officer’s right hand man with respective issues such as the crews’ quality of life and service,” Albea recounted.

source: interaksyon.com

Biggest Phl warship on patrol in Spratlys

SAN FERNANDO, La Union, Philippines – The Philippine Navy is sending its biggest warship BRP Rajah Humabon for patrol operations around Scarborough Shoal in the West Philippine Sea.

The deployment of the Humabon came after China dispatched its largest maritime patrol ship into the area in a move likely to raise tensions with neighbors staking rival claims to waters believed to hold vast reserves of oil and gas.

Chinese state media reports yesterday said the Haixun-31 left Wednesday and will stay in Singapore for two weeks of exchanges on search and rescue, anti-piracy and port management operations.

The ship is passing the Paracel and Spratly island groups at the heart of disputes with Vietnam, the Philippines and other nation claimants around the region.

The Chinese media reports appeared to stress the deployment of its biggest patrol ship in the region.

“Our country’s biggest maritime patrol ship patrols the South China Sea,” said the headline in the official Beijing Daily.

Such type of ships has been accused of harassing foreign shipping in the South China Sea, including a US Navy surveillance vessel.

China, Vietnam and the Philippines have traded diplomatic barbs recently over maritime claims to the resource-rich island groups. Vietnam’s navy conducted live fire exercises on Monday after accusing Chinese boats of disrupting oil and gas exploration in its waters.

Philippine Navy chief Vice Admiral Alexander Pama gave assurance that no provocative actions would be made in the West Philippine Sea.

He said the Navy would implement pro-active defense measures all within its territorial waters in the area.

The Humabon, which has 68 crewmembers and eight officers, was docked Thursday at the Poro Point seaport here before sailing to the Scarborough Shoal.

“We will observe and check if there are security threats in the area and also to inspect if there are illegal poachers taking advantage in our jurisdiction,” said the ship’s commanding officer, Cmdr. Celestino Abalayan.

Abalayan was quick to clarify that their mission has nothing to do with the issue on the Spratlys. He said they were just on routine patrol.

Scarborough Shoal is situated in the West Philippine Sea, 198 kilometers west of Subic Bay with an estimated area of 150 square kilometers. The Shoal, which is rich in maritime resources, is also being claimed by China.

Pama also said the Navy, along with other military units committed to secure the country’s territorial waters in Palawan, will maintain its presence within the Kalayaan Island Group, part of the island group of the Spratlys occupied by the Philippines.

“We will strictly adhere to our rules of engagement and if a shooting war breaks out (among contending forces in the Spratlys) in the area, it will not start or come from us first,” Pama said.

Pama though stressed the mandate of the troops to stand down against possible armed hostilities.

“We are not to going start (the shooting) but it is also within our right to defend ourselves. We could not just scamper away or simply watch them (foreign forces) shooting at us,” Pama said.

Pama brushed aside suggestions that the Philippine Navy should also take an aggressive stance and take the cue from Vietnam conducting live fire exercises in the region.

“We are doing our own. We have our own strategy. We have our own (military) plahttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifn,” Pama said but declined to elaborate.

The Philippine Navy has taken the aggressive measure of dismantling the markers presumably placed by China on some of the islands and reefs that are within the country’s territorial waters in the West Philippine Sea.

Pama said removal of the markers would continue with the assistance of the Philippine Coast Guard.

“We are doing these operations if only to emphasize that these markers are within the country’s exclusive economic zone,” Pama said. – With Jaime Laude, AP

Article Source: philstar.com