Navy News, opinions, editorials, news from Iraq, photos, reports - Navy Times

6 punished for roles in GW fire

SAN DIEGO — The Navy has punished six crew members of the aircraft carrier George Washington for their roles in a May 22 fire at sea, Navy officials confirmed.

According to U.S. Pacific Fleet, the sailors received unspecified nonjudicial punishments.

“One individual was found guilty of willful dereliction of duty and three were found guilty of disobeying a lawful order for hiding hazardous materials in a workspace in direct violation of ship safety regulations for the storage of hazardous materials,” Pacific Fleet spokesmen wrote in an e-mail response to questions from Navy Times. “Two noncommissioned officers were found guilty of negligent dereliction of duty for negligent supervision of the workspace.”

“There are no punitive discharges as a result of these proceedings,” they added.

Navy officials have said unauthorized smoking near containers filled with combustible material may have sparked the fire.

Officials did not release the names, ranks or ratings of the six sailors, who were punished for what officials only said was “their involvement in the chain of events leading to the fire.” They did not explain why those sailors were punished or provide any details on the punishments that were levied.

The fire, which began near a fuel pump room in the ship’s lower decks, spread through ventilation and cable trunks and caused extensive damage in 80 spaces across several decks, requiring $70 million in repairs. The fire forced an extended stay in San Diego of nearly three months for the ship and crew — canceling the carrier’s role in this year’s Rim of the Pacific exercises. The damage and repair efforts also delayed the planned swap in San Diego with the Kitty Hawk, which stepped in for the large-scale exercises off Hawaii.

The sailors’ punishments follow the firings in late July of the ship’s commander, Capt. Dave Dykhoff, and Capt. David M. Dober, the executive officer.

The punishments were doled out by Rear Adm. Richard Wren, who commands Carrier Strike Group 5 and Task Force 70 aboard George Washington.

Wren, who is aboard the carrier, has received the report of the investigation into the fire and will take any further administrative actions related to the fire, officials said.

“The investigation is complete and is going through an internal administrative close-out process,” they said. They did not elaborate.

Navy officials have not yet released any part of the probe into the fire, a Judge Advocate General’s Manual investigation that Adm. Gary Roughead, chief of naval operations, directed be completed by the Pacific Fleet.

Capt. Scott Gureck, a Pacific Fleet spokesman, said Sept.2 that officials planned to release a redacted version around Oct. 1.

The timeframe would coincide with George Washington’s expected arrival at its new overseas homeport of Yokosuka, Japan.

The ship is replacing the retiring Kitty Hawk as part of the Forward Deployed Naval Forces and will become the first nuclear-powered carrier to be permanently based in Japan.