Quoted:
Didn't the Navy in all of it's brilliance also accuse deceased sailor Clayton Hartwig of being a depressed homosexual and purposefully causing a blast that destroyed the Number 2 gun turret on the USS Iowa?
View Quote
It wasn't just an accusation. There was some hard forensic evidence that Hartwig did cause the explosion. There was NOT enough proof to make such an accusation stick and when certain people in the Navy made the public accusation and couldn't back it up and Hartwig's sister lawyered up, she had the Navy cold. She got the media on her side and was able to make her case in the press, which the Navy could NOT do for privacy act reasons. A later technical study by Sandia Labs in New Mexico, on the powder lot for the 16" guns that was aboard Iowa at the time of the explosion, indicated that the powder bags [b]might[/b] have exploded [b]IF[/b] the rammer was overramed into the open breech during the loading process. I do not believe that case, like the Hartwig asscusation was ever proven. That is, I'm not sure that the over-ramming scenario was proven. I was even told that it is impossible to over-ram that gun...but that was some years ago. This possible scenario was investigated by the Naval Investigative Service but it too did not result in any concrete conclusions.
Further damning testimony involved a certain master chief petty officer gunner's mate and his "illegal" operations involving the powder charges. I am not aware if anything came of that either, but I know it gave great weight to the argument of Hartwig's sister that the Navy had completely bungled the investigation.
Critical evidence was found in Hartwig's locker that indicated that he was "possibly" involved in the manufacture of a small explosive device that could be easily and surreptitiously attached to a powder bag during the loading process of the main gun, then the pressure of the bags being rammed would set it off. The paperwork indicated that Hartwig at least had the knowlege of such a device. Why he did remains open to speculation.
Hartwig was a loader in the gun crew. His GQ station was in the gun room, working the breech assy. of the gun. He was the guy who pulled/rolled the 16" bags of powder into the loading tray prior to ramming them into the breech for firing.
Evidence was uncovered and testimony given that Hartwig was having an affair with at least one other sailor in the crew.
Hartwig did leave his entire SGLI insurance annuity to another sailor. This is one reason his sister began her fight with the Navy in the first place.
I believe that the NIS completely blew this case. They further never should have gone public with their story until they had a lock on it. I would have called in outside help, including technical labs, the FBI, and individual forensic scientists to eliminate all dead ends. Then, what you have left, like it or not...illogical or not, is the truth. They didn't do this, and Hartwig's sister and her lawyer made the Navy look stupid. Careers were ended because of that too.
The prime reason Naval officers in command are relieved for cause is because their superiors lose confidence in the captain's ability to safely and correctly run his ship and lead their crew.
In the case of the Kitty Hawk the crew has been in a lot of trouble overseas lately along with the rest of the 7th Fleet. I am not sure why but the amount of crimes and drug usage has gone way up. The commander of the 7th Fleet has just cracked down on the entire force for their bad behavior. He has imposed liberty restrictions on the crews not seen in WESTPAC for nearly thirty years, including Cinderella liberty for all of the young sailors, meaning they have to be back aboard before midnight. He has also put the COs on notice to get their crews to begin behaving themselves or else. Seems that may have had an effect here.
Reliefs for cause are rare but they do happen. Usually its over something like a grounding or collision at sea but sometimes its just a pile of crap that builds up and finally gets to be too much. In 1982, I was serving in a destroyer in which the commodore fired out CO, and personally took command of the ship until another CO could be located, a period of about six weeks. Lucky for me, I had just reported aboard for duty. I found out later that this relief was because of a series of screw-ups that had been going on for some time. The crew morale sucked. Drug usage among the crew was soaring. One sailor committed suicide by hanging himself topside. The ship was filthy, the crew likewise. Many didn't have a full seabag. Most of the equipment and ship's systems, including the main propulsion, sonar and nuclear weapons fire control and storage system (magazine) were either inop or marginally operational. The straw that broke the camel's back was the week in which we miserably failed two major inspections, causing the ship to be figuratively chained to the pier until we were fixed and declared fit and safe to steam. Three other officers were immediately fired or transferred soon after. As I was new, I was fortunate to dodge the wrath of the commodore. I was given the job of cleaning up the nuclear weapons mess, and fixing the sonar division, which I and the chief proceeded to do. We soon got our new CO and began turning the ship around. Six months later, she was among the best in the Fleet and fully ready to deploy. We were even up for the Fleet award that goes to the ship that improves most in one year. Unfortunately, the Navy decided right then to decommission us in three months! Go figure.