Pentagon fires two more Navy officers over warship collisions in Asian waters that killed 17 US sailors

Two senior US Navy officers were fired Monday due to a “loss of confidence in their ability to command” after two collisions with civilian ships in the western Pacific killed 17 sailors at sea, the Pentagon said.

Rear Admiral Charles Williams, commander of the warships on patrol in the Asia-Pacific region, and Captain Jeffrey Bennett, commander of guided missile destroyers in the region, were the latest leaders removed since the Navy launched an investigation last month into the pair of deadly accidents involving the USS John S. McCain and the USS Fitzgerald.

Defence Secretary James Mattis told reporters at the Pentagon he was confident in how the Navy was examining the mishaps that have shaken the military and political leadership. In all, four US warships had collisions or ran aground in the Pacific this year.

The Navy has “a tradition of holding officers accountable, and they’ll do what they think is necessary,” he said.

In addition to the loss of life in the Navy, Mattis said he was concerned about a string of aviation crashes and other accidents during training exercises that have killed or injured more than 50 troops this year.

“We’re going to look at what happened on the demolition range and we’re going to look at what happened at seamanship on a ship and we’re going to look at what happened when an aircraft came out of the air,” he said.