The Navy fired the commander of one among its guided-missile submarines Friday, the service introduced in an announcement Monday.
The commanding officer of the USS Georgia sub’s blue crew — Capt. Geoffry Patterson — was relieved by Rear Adm. Thomas Buchanan, the commander of Submarine Group 10, “as a consequence of a lack of confidence in his potential to command,” the Navy mentioned.
Patterson seems to be the primary Navy commander to be faraway from command this yr.
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The Navy’s assertion didn’t supply any extra details about why Patterson was faraway from management, outdoors of the standard comment that the service expects its commanders “to uphold the very best requirements of accountability, reliability and management, and the Navy holds them accountable once they fall wanting these requirements.”
When requested for extra particulars, a Navy spokesperson mentioned he was not capable of supply something that wasn’t within the official assertion.
The USS Georgia is homeported at King’s Bay, Georgia. In response to knowledge from the Camden County Sheriff’s Workplace, the place King’s Bay is situated, Patterson was arrested within the early hours of Jan. 9 on costs together with driving beneath the affect and improper lane change.
In response to the sheriff’s web site, Patterson was launched on bond after a cost of greater than $1,800.
Patterson took command of the submarine’s blue crew in Could 2022.
The Ohio-class guided-missile submarine USS Georgia’s final deployment seems to have wrapped up shortly after that, in September 2022. The submarine had been forward-deployed for greater than two years — 790 days.
The Navy at present has 4 guided-missile submarines that have been transformed from Ohio-class ballistic missile submarines. As a substitute of nuclear missiles, the 4 boats as an alternative carry as much as 154 Tomahawk land-attack cruise missiles and practice to ship particular operations forces on covert missions.
Every Navy ballistic and guided-missile submarine has two units of crews, blue and gold. They take turns manning the submarines and taking them on patrol.
In response to the Navy, “this maximizes the [submarine]’s strategic availability, reduces the variety of submarines required to satisfy strategic necessities, and permits for correct crew coaching, readiness, and morale.”
The Navy mentioned that Capt. Christopher Osborn, the commanding officer of USS Georgia gold crew, is now in control of the boat and famous that “there isn’t a impression to operations.”
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