Hampton nuke probe spurs larger inquiry - Navy News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Navy Times

Hampton nuke probe spurs larger inquiry

The investigation into doctored reactor logs onboard the attack submarine Hampton continues with a sharp eye on the rest of the undersea fleet, according to Vice Adm. Jay Donnelly, submarine force commander.

“We’re looking very, very carefully at the root causes of what happened on Hampton, and the investigation is ongoing, so it’s a little early to draw conclusions, but I expect we’ll wrap this up in the very near future,” he told an annual gathering of the Naval Submarine League in McLean, Va., on Nov. 1. “We had a group of individuals — not a single individual, but a group — [that] was working together, and they compromised our integrity. I think they were pushing the ‘easy button.’ ”

The Hampton investigation has led to administrative discipline for one officer and five enlisted crewmen who allegedly skipped regular chemical tests of reactor water and then falsified records to make it appear the work had been completed. Donnelly described it as several crewmen “working in collusion and falsifying some records.”

On Oct. 25, Hampton’s captain, Cmdr. Michael Portland, was relieved of command for loss of confidence. Another officer and two more enlisted crew members were also reassigned. A total of 10 Hampton personnel have been punished since the problems were discovered in September.

Donnelly said the discrepancies aboard Hampton were discovered by a chief petty officer from the squadron who came aboard for routine inspections, “noticed irregularities and began pulling the thread, and brought this whole incident to light, and that light is very bright.”

In the aftermath, Donnelly said he plans to meet “eyeball to eyeball” with all submarine commanders and command teams on the East Coast, and Rear Adm. Joe Walsh, commander of the Pacific submarine force, will do the same throughout his command.

“My question is, ‘Is this a one-time isolated incident, or do we have this problem throughout the force?’ I don’t have indications now that I have a forcewide problem, certainly not on the magnitude that we had on Hampton,” he said.

Coincidental to the Hampton investigation, officials at the submarine symposium said the force has begun a deck-plate inquiry into low morale and shortfalls in officer and enlisted retention.

Submarine Force Master Chief (SS) Jeff Garrison said in an earlier presentation that ongoing retention problems in the community will be addressed with “deep-dive” teams that will go onboard Groton, Conn.-based boats beginning Nov. 5 to determine the “root cause” of low morale and high personnel departures. Garrison said the teams also will board submarines with high morale and high retention to determine what those commands are doing right.

The teams include a reserve-component captain, a command master chief from out of the area and a career counselor.“That’s not how we do business,” he said.