Navy Punishes 13 Sailors in Gay Inquiry : Investigation: Forty more at Japanese base, including officers, are targets of the probe. A homosexual support group calls the case a witch hunt.

Thirteen sailors have been court-martialed or discharged for alleged homosexual activity at the U.S. Navy base in Yokosuka, Japan, and a continuing investigation may result in charges against several others, including some officers, Navy officials said Tuesday.

Civilian and Navy sources familiar with the inquiry said as many as 40 more Navy enlisted men and officers are being investigated, including two commanders and three lieutenants.

Officials from the San Diego Veterans Assn., a support group for gay veterans and gays still in the military, called the investigation a witch hunt, claiming that officials at first found only two sailors, but pressured them into giving the names of other possible homosexuals. The group has received calls for assistance from sailors caught up in the investigation.

Although the inquiry began with allegations of homosexual activity, sources said investigators also are looking into charges of fraternization between male officers and enlisted women and female officers and enlisted men.

“It’s a major, major investigation, not just about allegations of homosexuality but fraternization as well,” said one Navy source.

Navy spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Bob Anderson in Hawaii said that at least one officer is under investigation for alleged homosexual activities, but he was not sure of the officer’s rank. Anderson said he could not confirm the number of sailors who are under investigation or whether women sailors are also targets of the probe.

However, Anderson did say that two sailors pleaded guilty to “committing sodomy and indecent acts” and were court-martialed. The two sailors were sentenced to four and five months respectively of hard labor but under a plea agreement, each will end up doing 45 days. In addition, each was fined $523 per month of confinement, and each was reduced in rank. In addition, the men received bad conduct discharges, said Anderson.

The other 11 sailors charged in the investigation “admitted to being homosexuals or were identified as homosexuals” and will receive administrative discharges, Anderson said. Administrative discharges are considered non-punitive.

Jim Woodward, a former Navy officer and vice president of the San Diego Veterans Assn., said the Navy has taken one incident of sexual conduct by two sailors and exaggerated it.

Navy officials said the sailors who have been charged are based at the Yokosuka Navy Base and assigned to the carrier Independence and the command ship Blue Ridge. The Blue Ridge is the flagship of the U.S. 7th Fleet.

Navy officials offered few details of the investigation. However, Woodward said that sailors caught up in the investigation told his group that the inquiry began about three weeks ago, when two crewmen on the Blue Ridge were found during a sex act.

“The witch hunt began after that. The Navy has taken an incident of sexual misconduct by two individuals, which was adequately handled by using the (military justice code) and turned it into a major flap, which is damaging some 40 individuals’ lives,” said Woodward.

He said the two sailors were pressured by investigators into revealing the names of other sailors allegedly involved in homosexual activity. The investigation “mushroomed from there,” Woodward added.

The Defense Department has a policy of banning gay men and women from the military.

Woodward called the investigation “an example of how destructive this policy is.”

“If this had been two heterosexuals caught in the act, the Navy would’ve handled it and not asked for names of other heterosexuals involved in possible sex acts,” said Woodward. “. . . The sailors who have been arrested in this thing were all minding their own business and conducting themselves in a professional and adult manner.”