2 warship officers ousted after crash

The U.S. Navy has removed the USS John S. McCain’s top two officers, calling the warship’s deadly August collision with an oil tanker “preventable.”

Cmdr. Alfredo Sanchez, the McCain’s commander, and Cmdr. Jessie Sanchez, its executive officer, were relieved of their duties and reassigned, Navy officials announced in a statement Tuesday.

The McCain, a guided-missile destroyer, collided with the merchant vessel Alnic MC on Aug. 21 near Singapore. Ten U.S. sailors died and five others were injured.

“While the investigation is ongoing, it is evident the collision was preventable, the commanding officer exercised poor judgment, and the executive officer exercised poor leadership of the ship’s training program,” officials said in the Navy’s announcement.

The incident was the latest in a series of accidents involving U.S. Navy ships. Two months before, the USS Fitzgerald, also a guided-missile destroyer, collided with a container ship in Tokyo Bay. That accident killed seven sailors.