US Navy Says USS Decatur Captain Removed for Filing False Reports on Ship’s Location

A recently obtained investigation report from the US Navy has revealed the USS Decatur’s commanding officer was fired from his position back in January for reporting inaccurate location coordinates to the service.

Lt. Rochelle Rieger, spokeswoman for the US Navy’s 3rd Fleet, revealed to Task and Purpose on January 16 that Cmdr. John “Bob” Bowen had been removed from his position as commanding officer on the USS Decatur due to a “loss of confidence in his ability to command” following an investigation.

In order to make it appear as though the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer never stopped during its trip, the Decatur’s Combat Information Center disabled its Link 16 and Global Command & Control electronic systems to prevent the ship’s actual position from being communicated automatically, according to the report.

“There was this piece of paper where the times and speed were calculated,” said one sailor who asserted that he refused to participate in the deception. “It was, in my opinion, designed to make it look like we were continuing along our track … when we weren’t.”

“I don’t understand the benefit of not telling them our position,” Bowen told investigators, according to the investigation transcript. “OK, we don’t tell them that we’re going [dead in the water] to do a [pitch calibration]. OK, that’s fine. But why do we need to falsify our position? That doesn’t make any sense to me.”

Cmdr. John Bowen, commanding officer of the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Decatur (DDG 73), monitors operations during exercise Neon Union 19. Neon Union 19 is a bilateral air and surface maritime security operations exercise to strengthen critical warfighting capabilities and enhance interoperability and operational readiness between the United States Navy and the Royal Bahrain Naval and Air Forces

“I didn’t see the reason to let 3rd Fleet know that we — I mean, as long as we’re not doing anything crazy,” Bowen added during the investigation. “We could still do our mission. I just didn’t want them asking questions about … ‘Hey, why are you guys doing this?’”

The service first became aware of the irregularities in the September 13 incident via an anonymous hotline shortly after the Decatur returned to San Diego, California, where the 3rd Fleet is based.

“And the Navy holds them accountable in cases where they fall short of those standards,” he added.

Sourse: sputniknews.com