AFTER COLLISION, NAVY ADMIRAL TO BE LET GO

Vice Adm. Joseph P. Aucoin will be relieved of command of the 7th Fleet after four embarrassing accidents this year, two of which killed sailors. »

The Navy will relieve the senior admiral in charge of the service’s 7th Fleet based in Japan in response to four embarrassing accidents this year, two of which killed sailors at sea, two U.S. officials said.

Vice Adm. Joseph Aucoin will be removed from his job formally Wednesday, the official said. The incidents include Monday’s deadly collision of the destroyer USS John S. McCain with a much heavier oil tanker off Singapore and a June 17 accident in which the destroyer USS Fitzgerald was ripped open by a larger Japanese container ship. Seven sailors were killed in the Fitzgerald disaster, and at least some of the 10 sailors reported missing from the McCain are dead, Adm. Scott Swift, the commander of U.S. Pacific Fleet, said Tuesday.

Aucoin has been the 7th Fleet commander since September 2015 and was previously the deputy chief of naval operations for warfare systems. His removal, first reported by the Wall Street Journal, is the highestprofile in the Navy since the disasters occurred.

The collisions have shocked the Navy, where good seamanship and avoiding collisions are a fundamental expectation and demand. Adm. John Richardson, the chief of naval operations, announced Monday that he is ordering an “operational pause” across the globe in which commanders take a day or two each to make sure that sailors understand the fundamentals of good seamanship. He also directed a four-star officer, Adm. Phil Davidson of Fleet Forces Command, to launch a separate review of the 7th Fleet to assess its culture, operations and readiness for missions.

Swift, who oversees the 7th Fleet as part of his role as Pacific Fleet commander, expanded the scope of that scrutiny Tuesday, ordering a second step to Richardson’s review that will include all Navy forces in the Pacific. It will include a “deliberate reset” for ships that focuses on navigation, maintaining mechanical systems and manning the ship’s bridge appropriately, Swift said.