![The USS McCain before its accident off the coast of Singapore. [Image via US Navy / Wikimedia]](https://staticr1.blastingcdn.com/media/photogallery/2017/10/11/660x290/b_502x220x82/the-uss-mccain-before-its-accident-off-the-coast-of-singapore-image-viaus-navy-wwwcommonswikimediaorg_1625265.jpg "The USS McCain before its accident off the coast of Singapore. [Image via US Navy / Wikimedia]")
The ax came down on Navy officers found responsible for the string of crashes that occurred a few months ago, with the Navy firing two more individuals on Tuesday who were on duty the day on the day USS McCain crashed into an Oil Tanker off the coast of Singapore.
According to reports from Fox News, Cmdr. Alfred J. Sanchez, who was the commander of the USS McCain on that fateful day, and Cmdr. Jesse L. Sanchez, the executive officer, were relieved of their duties and reassigned.
In a statement, Navy officials said the action on the two officers was taken after the Navy lacked confidence in their ability to undertake their assigned duties.
Navy statement
Fox News reported that while the investigation into the collision was still ongoing, preliminary findings showed the collision was "preventable," and that the commanding officer exercised poor judgment.
The executive officer, on the other hand, displayed poor leadership when it came to the vessel's training program, the statement said.
The USS McCain collision, which claimed 10 sailors and injured 5 others, was one of the accidents that occurred in a series of mishaps that exposed the Navy's leadership and training shortcomings. The recovery of the sailor's bodies took almost one week to be retrieved.
Two months before the USS McCain incident, another guided-missile destroyer, the USS Fitzgerald, collided with a carrier ship off the coast of Japan, killing 7 US sailors.
The two recent firings bring to a total of more than 12 commanders who have been relieved of their duties in connection with four accidents involving Navy carriers that have occurred this year.
Vessels in high demand
When Navy heads appeared before Congress in September, they noted that since the US went to war in 2001, there has been a high demand for the destroyer vessels.
But the fleet had been reduced by 20 percent, giving the available destroyers hectic schedules, and deployments are conducted at an alarming pace.
This caused vessels to be stretched thin, and the crews had to work 100-hour weeks, leading to burn-out and exhaustion which resulted in complacency.
The Western Pacific has especially been striving to keep a consistent presence of Navy destroyers owing to the nuclear threats by North Korea and China's expansion ambitions.
During his appearance before the Congress Committee, Chief of Naval Operations John Richardson observed that "at the core of the issue, was command."
