Navy Relieves Officers Over Carrier Collision
The captain and four other officers of the aircraft carrier Coral Sea, which two months ago collided with an Ecuadorean tanker, were relieved of their duties Friday.
The Navy said that the decision by Vice Adm. Robert F. Dunn, commander of the Naval Air Force for the Atlantic Fleet, stemmed from “his loss of confidence in their abilities to perform their duties.”
A Navy source said that the five had also received punitive letters of reprimand and would be reassigned to unspecified jobs.
The accident occurred on the night of April 11 off the coast of Cuba. The carrier was conducting flight operations as it approached an Ecuadorean oil tanker, the Napo.
For reasons that are still unclear, the carrier made two left turns as it approached the tanker, putting it on a collision course. Under the standard rules at sea, ships approaching each other are supposed to turn right to put distance between them.
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