Cmdr. Alfredo Sanchez pleads guilty in McCain collision
Stars & Stripes reports that Cmdr. Alfredo Sanchez pleaded guilty today for dereliction of duty in regards to the collision of the USS McCain;
Former Cmdr. Alfredo Sanchez appeared somber and tearful during a special court-martial at the Washington Navy Yard for the criminal charge under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Sanchez pleaded guilty as part of an agreement reached earlier this year and has yet to be sentenced, but could face a letter of reprimand and forfeiture of a portion of his pay for three months.
The criminal conviction could be a career-ending move for Sanchez, who has spent more than 20 years in the service.
“He negligently failed to ensure the safe navigation of the said vessel,” the charge sheet said, “as it was his duty to do as Commanding Officer to ensure a proper watch was set for transiting a high-density contact contact environment; take proper action and control of the vessel during system casualty; follow operational Standing Orders during a conceived system casualty, and that such dereliction of duty contributing to the death” of the 10 sailors.
Category: Navy
Special Court-Martial, and dropped the manslaughter and hazarding a vessel. Either the case didn’t support the other charges, or powers-that-be decided a career ending letter would be sufficient.
Help me out AW1Ed. Why would he, as Commander of the USS McCain, not be held for manslaughter? If I recall, others were. To me and I was not Navy nor an Officer, it seems that had he been charged with fraud in the Fat Leonard scandal, this punishment would be appropriate. But when 10 lives were lost, I would think (that’s a bad thing I know) that he would have faced charges for their deaths. I guess I just don’t understand, the ‘spanks for ranks’ system as well as I thought.
As I said, either the prosecution felt it didn’t have the evidence to support the charges, which I doubt, or Higher Ups made the call. I think politics played a large hand in both the level of court-martial and the charges levied. The brutal OPTEMPO was such that even routine maintenance was rushed or waived, much less with time dedicated to train and develop a crew. The blame for that goes MUCH higher, and that’s why I think the charges are so. Watch, and I’ll bet the same scenario plays out on the rest.
JMHO, YMMV.
Thank you my friend. For your answer and patience.
Glad to, Sparks. any time.
Was Sanchez the CO or the XO of McCain?
Was that dumpy little female officer from an earlier post part of this mess, too?
Sanchez was the CO, and the female LTJG was on the bridge during the collision- OOD, perhaps. I’ll look it up.
Both the CO & the XO were named Sanchez. This guy was the skipper.
She was the OOD on USS Fitzgerald, the other mishap vessel.
CBS News Link
The first in hopefully a long line of people who need to go.
And add a lot of flag officers to the list.
Amen to that. As I see it right now, they’re just going after the street dealers, I hope they go all the way up to the kingpins of the bullshit that made those collisions happen!
I have the same issue with this sentence as I do wih the Chief’s earlier. He’ll be able to retire out, under disgrace yes, but he can retire when men under his charge won’t. Not due to equipment failure or enemy action, but to the command climate he cultivated aboard his ship.
The “command climate” usually starts at the top, and you know what the top was, Mason. Eight years of it can erode just about anything.
While there were accidents in the old Navy, suck as the 1967 fire on the Oriskany, they weren’t like this.
You’re thinking of the Forrestal, but the sentiment is the same.
You’re right. I got the dates mixed up. Oriskany’s hangar bay fire was 1966. My bad.
So many fires to remember. The anniversary of the one on the Nimitz back in May of 1981 that took 14 shipmates.
I can get behind that. Incompetent commanders assigned by incompetent admirals appointed by an incompetent president.
Negligence, negligence, and more negligence. Is it coincidence that two different ships can have such poor leadership such that officers and senior enlisted are so grossly negligent that their stupidity cost the lives of 17 sailors? Or is it that the standard of selecting the best people for a job has been too long playing second fiddle to ensuring that the Navy resembles the UN and YWCA?
Used to say, once is an anomaly, twice is a trend. Left unsaid here are all the near-misses and narrowly avoided disasters, because there had to be some. The rot that caused these incidents came from the top down, and the unfortunate part is those who played the roles of decision makers will never be called to account. These poor bastards were stuck on the pointy end with ill-trained crews and questionable, poorly maintained equipment, and no time to fix either. No, I’m not excusing them, but there are other factors besides negligence.
Again, thank you for a point of view I had not considered. Given all I have now read, I see this as more of a big Navy issue and not just the Pacific Fleet nor these two ships alone. I guess we will never know the number of near misses of other ships but I fear there are more than a few.
Negligent hiring. Negligent promotion. Negligent retention. There’s more than enough negligence to go around, AE1ED.
W/E Sideways, they’re kinda similar.
*grin*
No problem. As I said, I’m not excusing anyone, but there are always additional factors in any mishap- it’s called the ‘accident chain’ for a reason. No mishap is a stand alone event, and negligence was definitely a link in this particular chain.
Forgive my ignorance, but I was an Army guy.
Does he warrant the charges and conviction (deal)?
Short answer, yes. The Skipper is responsible for his ship, always.
Nothing to forgive, GT. You nautically challenged types baffle me quite often.
*grin*
Yes, because as the Captain all crew members Lives are in his hands. Only had 1 CO that I was afraid to go to sea with and it was justified. We had flooding in control because the induction mast was not secured and on a submarine its major.
Thank God for our CPO’s as we are alive today.
…the induction mast was not secured ….
Isn’t that one of the lights on the whole “straight board shut” gizmo?
Glad that worked out Ok.
CDR Sanchez hit 20 yrs this month, and will almost certainly be retired as an 0-4 by the OGDB. The reduced pension will cost him roughly 150K over 30 yrs. Much better than a dismissal, and prison time.
Different spanks for different ranks.
He failed command at sea, the deaths will haunt him the rest of his life, and his career is crushed. In my opinion, his crime was not confessing to Higher his inability to carry out the onerous tasking assigned, and failing to throw the bullshit flag when he needed to care for his ship and crew. Doing so, of course, would have ended is career as well, but perhaps would have saved lives.
The pressure to perform above all costs came from above, and those who set that bar are responsible as well.
Death of ten equates to a letter of reprimand and that short a sentence after pleading guilty? Not the same UCMJ I remember, that is bullshit.
Aww he cried. Who involved in this hasn’t turned on the tears to escape real punishment and accountability? Give me a fucking break with this shit.
He was tearful, not crying. Latino types are quite emotional. Like chicks. Heh.
Update.
Navy Times Link