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No court-martial for fired Constitution CO

A Navy commander accused of striking a sailor and then forcing his crew to deny the incident will not be going to court-martial. Instead, the matter was resolved through an “administrative proceeding,” Navy Region Mid Atlantic spokesman Mike Giannetti said.

Cmdr. Thomas Graves was accused of assault, cruelty and maltreatment, forcing someone to falsify a record, and making a false statement. Until he was relieved of command May 10, Graves was the 69th commander of the 210-year-old floating museum USS Constitution, known as “Old Ironsides,” the oldest commissioned ship afloat. The ship is docked in Boston and rarely sets sail. It has a crew of 65 sailors and officers.

A two-day Article 32 pretrial hearing — the military equivalent of a grand jury proceeding — was held for Graves on Sept. 6 and 7 in Boston. During the hearing, one of Graves’ subordinates testified that he tried to run the historical vessel “like the ship was a destroyer,” according to local press accounts.

The administrative proceeding took place Tuesday at the Surface Warfare Officers School in Newport, R.I., where Graves had been reassigned since he was fired in May, Giannetti explained. He said the details were confidential. Graves’ lawyer, civilian Charles Gittins, said neither he nor his client had any comment on the proceeding.

Gittins said earlier that his client “cracked the whip, and the sailors didn’t like it.” The lawyer characterized Graves as a “demanding commander” in charge of a “group of immature and lazy sailors.”

Graves previously put in his papers to retire “months ago,” according to Gittins.