Decatur CO fired after providing Navy false reports on ship’s position, investigation finds

The commanding officer of the guided-missile destroyer Decatur was relieved of command after misleading the Navy’s 3rd Fleet about the ship’s position, according to a new report.

An investigation of the incident, obtained by the San Diego Union Tribune, claimed that Cmdr. Bob Bowen instructed his crew in September to avoid notifying 3rd Fleet officials that the ship had gone dead in the water to complete maintenance on one of its propeller shafts.

Additionally, the investigation found that Decatur’s crew falsified positioning reports to conceal that the ship was stalled for hours. Two electronic systems that could detect the ship’s position were disconnected in the process.

“I didn’t see the reason to let 3rd Fleet know that we — I mean, as long as we’re not doing anything crazy,” Bowen told investigators, according to the Tribune. “We could still do our mission. I just didn’t want them asking questions about … ‘Hey, why are you guys doing this?’”

The incident occurred on the morning of Sept. 13 when the ship was sailing between Hawaii and Seal Beach, California, the report said. To conduct the repairs, the crew locked the ship’s shaft so it remained dead in the water.

A bridge watchstander contacted Bowen to check if 3rd Fleet knew about the situation, to which Bowen responded, “I don’t think they are aware.” When pressed about whether 3rd Fleet should be notified, Bowen said there was no need since the repairs would wrap up shortly, a sailor told investigators.

But when 3rd Fleet officials began inquiring about the ship’s position, course and speed, another bridge watchstander called Bowen. Once more, Bowen instructed the sailor not to inform 3rd Fleet.

“After I hung up with the captain, I understood what he was saying,” the sailor said in the report. “Basically, (to) provide … where we would have been … as if we were not (dead in the water). It just seemed a little awkward I guess….”

https://www.navytimes.com/news/your-navy/2020/04/13/decatur-co-was-fired-after-providing-navy-with-false-reports-on-ships-position/

Ted Cruz accuses CNN's Brian Stelter of acting like a Democratic operative after mocking deleted tweet

'Does CNN only exist to attack GOP?'

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) fired back at CNN's media correspondent after he mocked the senator over a deleted tweet about Michigan's Democratic governor.

Cruz reposted a popular but misleading meme on Twitter that showed Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signing a bill imposing a fine on residents who don't follow social distancing orders, while she and her aides crowded together in the photograph.

Brian Stelter mocked the senator for deleting the tweet after he was informed that the photograph was taken in 2019, long before social distancing guidelines were in place.

"Why senators shouldn't rush to dunk on others based on a too-good-to-be-true tweet. @TedCruz deleted his shot after @GovWhitmer corrected him," Stelter said, with a screenshot of the deleted tweet.

Cruz excoriated Stelter and explained that the image had been corrected by a local ABC News affiliated, and criticized Stelter for what he saw as biased media coverage.

"I RT'ed a former LA Times reporter who had tweeted pics that mistakenly ran on the ABC local news broadcast. When I found out the story was erroneous, I deleted the tweet," said Cruz.

https://www.theblaze.com/news/ted-cruz-slaps-down-brian-stelter-on-deleted-tweet