Navy Fires CVN-73’s Captain and XO

I used to be a welder, and actually helped put the USS George Washington together back in the early 90’s. But the Captain and the Executive Officer got lazy in enforcing fire regulations on board, and the result was a ship in flames that resulted in a $70 Million repair bill. And the Japanese, who are rightly afraid of anything nuclear powered, are having second thoughts about allowing the Washington to serve as the Kitty Hawk’s replacement.

From CNN here:

The U.S. Navy fired the captain and executive officer of the aircraft carrier USS George Washington on Wednesday because of a massive fire that damaged the ship in May.

Capt. David C. Dykhoff and his executive officer, Capt. David M. Dober, were relieved of duty while the ship is in port in San Diego, California, for repairs that will cost about $70 million.

The two were fired because of practices on their ship that Navy investigators believe led to the fire. The fire was started when a cigarette ignited material stored in an engineering room.

Investigators found flammable liquids stored in an engineering area of the ship, which is strictly prohibited, and sailors were allowed to smoke in the same engineering areas, considered another violation.

The carrier was due to replace the aging USS Kitty Hawk, which is forward-based in Japan, this summer, but the fire delayed the handover. The incident also worried the Japanese government, which had agreed to have the nuclear-powered George Washington replace the diesel-powered Kitty Hawk despite the country’s long opposition to allowing nuclear ships dock there.