Navy News, news from Iraq - Navy Times

Port Royal CO fired after grounding

The commanding officer of the cruiser Port Royal was sacked Monday, only hours after salvage ships pulled his cruiser off the shoal where it had been stuck since Thursday night.

Capt. John Carroll was “temporarily relieved of command pending the results of the ongoing investigation to determine the cause of the ship’s grounding,” according to a Navy announcement.

Capt. John Lauer III, with Naval Surface Group Middle Pacific, will temporarily take over as the Port Royal’s skipper.

Carroll took command of the Port Royal in October 2008 and oversaw the ship’s recent shipyard maintenance period in Pearl Harbor. The Port Royal was on sea trials last week, having finishing its upgrades, when the ship ran aground in very shallow water off Honolulu Airport.

After three days of rolling in the Pacific surf as a collection of salvage ships attempted to pull it free, the Port Royal was finally floated loose early Monday. Engineers emptied the ship’s saltwater tanks, jettisoned its anchors and anchor chains, and took off more than 100 sailors, lightening it by about 600 tons, according to Pacific Fleet spokesman Capt. Scott Gureck.

Before taking command of the Port Royal, Carroll was the reactor officer aboard the carrier George Washington; he commanded the frigate Rodney M. Davis; and served as the executive officer of the frigates Gary and Thach. He also served aboard the frigate Ford and the carrier Enterprise, among other assignments.

RELATED READING:

• Grounded cruiser off Hawaii pulled free

• Latest try to free grounded Port Royal fails