The U.S. Navy has fired 14 commanders so far this year for offenses including soliciting prostitution, having inappropriate relationships with other officers, and dereliction of duties that led to ship collisions, spokesman Lt. Justin Cole said.
Though 14 may seem a high number of commanders to be fired within a nine-month period, Cole said the Navy dismisses an average of 15 commanders each year. There are 1,500 commanding officers in the service, said Cole.
“All of the cases are different. Some years, we see more reasons involving ship collisions or some years that trend toward bad behavior,” he said. “There’s no way to say it’s because of one thing or another, or that there’s something unusual going on this year.
“It’s just unfortunate when we have people who aren’t meeting the high standards the Navy sets,” he added.
The latest to be dismissed is Capt. David Solms, who was fired Tuesday night for “inappropriate personal behavior,” Cole said.
Solms was in charge of the Trident Training Facility, in Bangor, Washington. William Kenny, a Trident spokesman, said he would not elaborate on details of the case, but added that Solms has been temporarily assigned to another post in the Northwest region.
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