Navy report details drunken misconduct behind Stout firings

Better leadership aboard the Norfolk-based destroyer Stout could have prevented a string of drunken misdeeds by a group of sailors during port visits this winter, according to a Navy investigation report.

Ten Stout sailors, including the commanding officer and command master chief, were removed from the ship last month in the middle of a deployment. The report, made public Wednesday in response to a Freedom of Information Act request, provides details about what the Navy called "a pervasive pattern of unprofessional behavior in overseas ports and a substandard command climate."

The report says the misconduct took place between December and February during port visits in Souda Bay, Greece; Haifa, Israel; and Palermo, Italy. In Greece, several officers and enlisted sailors visited a strip of bars called American Alley, where "inappropriate dancing and other unduly familiar conduct occurred," the report says. Later the same night, someone in the group hit another sailor.

In Israel, while several crew members were on their way back to the Stout from a downtown bar, two chief petty officers got in a fistfight. And at a bar in Italy, several crew members saw a chief petty officer and a junior enlisted sailor kissing and touching each other, the report says.

It doesn't disclose exactly how many officers and sailors were involved, and their names were redacted. Ultimately, the Navy removed seven crew members March 1 after nonjudicial punishment proceedings. They included one officer, five chief petty officers and one petty officer.

Another chief was removed from the ship to face legal proceedings. The report doesn't say why.

Cmdr. Nathan Borchers and the relieved command master chief, Susan Bruce-Ross, were not involved in the misconduct. They bear blame for leadership failures that fueled the problems, investigators concluded.

Bruce-Ross knew about some of the misconduct and didn't report it to her superiors, according to the report. When Borchers found out about it, he didn't respond appropriately, Vice Adm. Harry B. Harris Jr., the commander of U.S. 6th Fleet, said in his endorsement of the investigation.

"By repeatedly failing to thoroughly investigate suspected liberty incidents and by not holding junior officers and chief petty officers accountable, the commanding officer directly contributed to a lack of good order and discipline on Stout and created a perception that standards for conduct ashore did not apply to officers or chief petty officers," Harris said.

About Bruce-Ross, Harris wrote, "The lack of professionalism of chiefs under her charge, her inability to lead the chief's mess, and her failure to inform the C.O. when misconduct occurred indicated to me that she should not hold this position of special trust."

Bruce-Ross's inability to lead the ship's chief petty officers left a void at a critical level of leadership, the main investigator concluded. The report says several Stout chiefs essentially acted as a gang that bullied and demeaned other sailors, including officers. That created a hostile climate and ineffective work environment.

"Sailors are fearful of reporting misconduct due to a fear of retaliation by the chiefs," the report says. "This group's lack of integrity, ethical and professional behavior is appalling."

Their actions, which Bruce-Ross failed to control, led to wider morale problems, the report adds.

The investigation also found that programs and policies meant to prevent misconduct during port visits weren't effectively implemented aboard the Stout.

Soon after the investigation was finished, Bruce-Ross and Borchers were reassigned to administrative duties at Naval Surface Force Atlantic in Norfolk. Bruce-Ross could not be reached Wednesday. Through a Navy spokesman, Borchers declined to comment.

In his endorsement, Harris recommended that the Navy conduct an additional investigation into the performance of Borchers' predecessor, Cmdr. Mark Oberley; Borchers took over for Oberley in December, though he served as the ship's second-in-command before that.

The Stout, with a crew of about 300, is now under the command of Cmdr. Sylvester Steele, previously the executive officer of the destroyer Ramage. Bruce-Ross was replaced by Command Master Chief Anthony Cole, who last served at Naval Surface Force Atlantic.

The Stout is deployed in the Mediterranean Sea. It played a major role in the early stages of the U.S. intervention in Libya, launching roughly 50 Tomahawk missiles at Libyan targets.

Corinne Reilly, (757) 446-2949, corinne.reilly@pilotonline.com