In a recent announcement from the U.S. Navy, it was confirmed that the commanding officer of USS John S. McCain, Cmdr. Cameron Yaste, has been relieved of his duties due to a “loss of confidence” in his ability to command the guided-missile destroyer.
The decision was made by Rear Adm. Christopher Alexander, commander of the Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group, and took effect on August 30.
Following the relief, Capt. Allison Christy, the deputy commodore of Destroyer Squadron 21, has stepped in as the temporary commanding officer for USS John S. McCain.
The ship, which is currently deployed in the U.S. 5th Fleet area of operations, has been stationed in the Middle East since arriving in April after leaving its homeport in Everett, Washington, in March.
The U.S. Navy stated that the relief of Cmdr. Yaste would not affect the ship’s mission or schedule. A representative from the U.S. Navy made clear the importance of maintaining high standards for commanding officers, noting that they are entrusted with significant responsibilities for their crews and vessels.
Cmdr. Yaste had taken command of USS John S. McCain in October 2023 and will now be temporarily reassigned to Naval Surface Group Northwest.
Here’s the statement.
“The commander of the Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group, Rear Adm. Christopher Alexander, relieved Cmdr. Cameron Yaste of duties as John S. McCain’s commanding officer. Capt. Allison Christy, deputy commodore of Destroyer Squadron 21, has temporarily assumed command of the destroyer. John S. McCain is currently on a scheduled deployment in the U.S. 5th Fleet area of operations. It arrived in the Middle East in April after departing its homeport of Everett, Washington in March. There is no impact to the ship’s mission or schedule due to the relief.
The Navy holds commanding officers to the highest standards and holds them accountable when those standards are not met. Naval leaders are entrusted with significant responsibilities to their Sailors and their ships. Yaste reported to assume the role as John S. McCain’s commanding officer in October 2023. He has now been temporarily reassigned to Naval Surface Group Northwest.”
This sacking of COs in the USN seems to happen a lot. Is there a problem with the selection for command process? I wonder what Cmdr Yaste did or did not do?
Just checked. He was photographed nearly 2 months ago firing a rifle with the scope mounted backwards.
I’ve seen that photo. Funny.
That’s gun poor design. It’s funny but he’s management not a grunt used to handling guns. Maybe poor judgment to pose with a firearm which he would never be expected to use.
He was dismissed because he screwed up a photo-op and the Navy couldn’t take the subsequent social media ragging from the Marines. I wonder if someone handed him the rifle like that, then asked him to look butch and fire off a few rounds for Insta. Yes he should have caught the mistakes, but if that’s what happened, he has every right to feel pissed off in my opinion. There’s a level of trust in these situations, that your professional media people won’t make you look stupid.
According to a Business Insider report from 6 September it had to do with an unresolved steering issue, culminating in a poorly handled near miss incident during a refueling operation with USNS Big Horn on 20 July. Go to Business Insider and search for “CO fired.” (In case it is difficult to access, it has been copy pasted by commenter tiger in the combox under the 30 August article on the USNI site.) It is a long and rather depressing read. The incident with the reversed scope seems a bit of a red herring to me.
Thanks.
Thanks Eric. I thought the punishment for a messd up photo op was a bit harsh.
It’s tradition in the USN surface fleet to fire a ton of people. Been like that since ww2. Should have happened to JFK, but he was protected by family.
What did JFK do wrong? The stories are all about his heroic explots with PT109.
Allowed his entire crew to sleep at night while the boat was adrift, no one on watch.
They do seem to do it a lot. The CO was in command for a whole year before being sacked. If you look back you can see some of them seem to relate to pretty random events..including random minor fires etc…one destroyer last year had two captains dismissed one after the other six months apart, one poor captain was sacked for planning to make a plaque out of a seized rusting old AK47 celebrating a big weapons seizure.
infact in 2023 the U.S. dismissed and replaced a total of 8 ship’s captains…the most COs ever sacked in one year was 20. The USN has a sack before investigation process and some COs have been found to have been innocent of the thing they were sacked for.
The USN sacks a lot more COs than the other US services.
I think the USN has forget that its most famous and successful commanding officer, Adm Chester Nimitz was actually found guilty in a court-martial of running his second command aground.
Thanks for the outstanding info.
The SWO billet has long been acknowledged as dysfunctional. It may be that the people being promoted by the system are not a fit for what the Navy wants from it’s Destroyer Captains.
Thanks Jonathan. All quite incredible.
You couldn’t make this ESG-DEI schiesse up.
The Axis must be laughing their heads off.
There seems to be something very wrong in the way the American Armed Forces chose the leaders. All four services are removing commanding officers due to loss of confidence. Obviously their selection process seems flawed.
I actually met this guy when Mccain was in for a maint period .
The USN does get rid of COs at an alarming rate. Their section process cannot be great.
👍, pity politicians didn’t fall under the same ethos. 🤔🕳️Btth.
It’s not the selection process, it’s the standards they are held to. Any perceived gaff of any kind is a sack.