THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, June 11, 1996 TAG: 9606110300
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JACK DORSEY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: 51 lines
The Navy has relieved the captain of a Norfolk-based ship, saying it lost confidence in his ability to continue in command following an incident in Nova Scotia involving a female midshipman from the Naval Academy.
Cmdr. James H. McKinney Jr., 40, commanding officer of the guided-missile frigate Nicholas for the past 10 months, was relieved Monday by Vice Adm. Douglas J. Katz, commander of Surface Force Atlantic, headquartered in Norfolk.
``The relief is an administrative action, and additional details are not being released,'' said Archie Galloway, a spokesman for Katz's command.
The Nicholas had been making a port call in Halifax, Nova Scotia, over the weekend when the incident occurred, the Navy said.
According to a source, McKinney had been on liberty and was leaving a club on his way back to his ship when the female midshipman, a student first-class, or senior, at the academy, who was also at the club apparently motioned for McKinney to join her back inside.
The two were seen on the dance floor. After they left the club, they returned to the Nicholas, where they entered McKinney's cabin, the source said.
No sexual misconduct with the woman, who was a temporary part of the 220-member crew, was alleged by the Navy. Normally, women are not assigned to the Nicholas.
The midshipman, assigned to the Nicholas as part of her senior-class academy cruise, has not been identified. It was not immediately known if she continues to serve on the ship.
The incident was reported to higher authorities through the ship's chain of command, officials said.
The Nicholas, which left Halifax on Monday to conduct operations at sea, is scheduled to return to Norfolk on Friday.
It is currently under the command of Cmdr. Timothy Sprague, who was ordered over the weekend to replace McKinney.
The incident comes at a dark time for the Navy, which struggles to put behind it embarrassments involving misconduct of various kinds.
Beginning with the Tailhook sexual misconduct scandal in the early 1990s and continuing with a series of troubles at the academy involving car theft rings, drug sales, cheating and sexual harassment, the Navy has been beset with repeated troubles.
The service is having a difficult time trying to rebound, especially following the death last month of Adm. Mike Boorda, the chief of naval operations, who committed suicide.
``We just have to wonder when it is going to end,'' said one officer.
KEYWORDS: US NAVY MISCONDUCT by CNB