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Captain of USS JFK relieved of duty after dhow accident

The captain of the USS John F. Kennedy, the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier which collided with a wooden dhow in the Arabian Gulf on the night of July 22, has been relieved of command on Friday.

The Commander, US Fifth Fleet, has directed that the commanding officer of the carrier be relieved as off August 27, as a result of the collision that occurred while the Kennedy was conducting flight operations. The carrier was undamaged. No bodies or survivors were recovered from the dhow, only some wreckage. The cargo, identity or destination of the dhow as well as the number of people on board, are as yet unknown.

Captain John W. Miller, former commanding officer of USS Constellation, will replace Captain Stephen G. Squires in command. Captain Squires will be temporarily reassigned to duties in the United States.

The collision occurred as the Kennedy was conducting flight operations in the Arabian Gulf. The decision to relieve the commanding officer followed review of an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the collision.

The collision appears to be accidental according to the US Navy. The dhow smashed into the starboard hull of the aircraft carrier which tried to swerve to avoid striking the civilian vessel. The Kennedy itself was undamaged, but two jet fighters on the deck slid along the deck as the carrier made a hard turn to avoid the dhow and were slightly damaged.

“Right now there is nothing to indicate this is anything other than an accident,” said Commander Jamie Graybeal, a spokesman for the 5th Fleet in Bahrain, “That it occurred is obviously not normal.”

The Kennedy was steaming in international waters as a fighter jet was approaching to land. At some point the dhow was detected but the Kennedy’s commander decided to maintain the ship’s course until the plane had landed safely. After the plane landed, the Kennedy began a hard turn to avoid the dhow. It was too late and the boat struck the Kennedy’s hull and sank.

According to Cmdr Graybeal, no one has contacted the US Navy about a missing boat or sailors. The incident has brought the issue of possible attacks against US naval vessels at sea back to the fore.

The USS John F. Kennedy is deployed to the Arabian Gulf supporting coalition forces in Iraq and providing security for vital sea lines of communication in the region.

The deadliest attack on a US naval vessel in the region came on October 12, 2000 when a bomb-carrying boat rammed the hull of the USS Cole in the Yemeni port of Aden. Seventeen sailors were killed in that attack.

This past April 24, a dhow approached an Iraqi oil platform in the Gulf. The US Coast Guard patrol vessel, the USS Firebolt, launched a small boat to intercept it, but when the US craft approached, the dhow exploded. Three US sailors were killed in the incident.

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