Navy Takes Action on Four Officers Aboard Iowa

The Navy took punitive disciplinary action Wednesday against two officers of the battleship Iowa for deficiencies found after an explosion that killed 47 men. It also admonished the captain and operations officer.

All four, charged with dereliction of duty, went before an admiral’s mast, a non-judicial form of inquiry, for lax procedures found during the Navy’s investigation into the ship’s gun blast April 19.

The Navy announced that, as a result of the inquiry, it took “administrative measures” against the commanding officer, Capt. Fred Moosally, and the chief operations officer. The Navy refused to name the chief operations officer but a Navy source identified him as Cmdr. Robert Finney.

The source explained that the action was a “non-punitive letter of admonition that does not go into their service records.”

The Navy insisted that the action taken against Moosally was not a “slap on the wrist,” noting that the Navy’s investigation into the explosion had found that there was no link between the blast, and the ship’s training and management deficiencies.

The Navy said the Iowa’s unidentified weapons officer was given a “punitive letter of admonition,” which goes into his service record and could affect his career, and suspended forfeiture of $1,000 pay per month for two months.

The forfeited pay is suspended for six months, meaning he will not lose the money if he remains on good behavior for six months.

Likewise, the unidentified master chief petty officer was given a punitive letter of admonition and ordered to forfeit $500 per month for two months, with the forfeiture suspended for six months.

A Navy source identified the weapons officer as Cmdr. Robert Kissinger and the chief petty officer as Stephen Skelly.

The Navy said that “the subordinates were held accountable for deficiencies in their specifically assigned duties.”

“The commanding officer was judged on the adequacy of overall command policies and oversight of overall shipwide practices.”

An investigation concluded that Petty Officer Clayton M. Hartwig, a gun captain in turret No. 2, “most likely” caused the explosion. Hartwig was among those who died.