As a former Naval Officer, this headline struck me as so surreal that at first I thought USNA-At-Large's John Howland was circulating a joke. If only!

The emphasis below is mine. Consider it the on-screen equivalent of a voice shaking with outrage.

From The San Diego Union Tribune:

September 22, 2007 – An in-port party that resulted in sailors showing up drunk to fight a shipboard fire contributed to the February dismissal of a San Diego-based destroyer's commander, according to a Navy report obtained by The San Diego Union-Tribune.

Cmdr. John J. Pinckney Jr. was relieved after a Navy inquiry revealed how he encouraged other officers and sailors – even those on watch duty – to drink during and after the Nov. 2 reception aboard the Halsey [USS Halsey, DDG 97] for dignitaries in Kagoshima, Japan.

The investigation also indicated that Pinckney changed a report to hide the seriousness of the fire that damaged one of the ship's two main reduction gears, which help drive the propellers.

The Halsey returned to San Diego on Dec. 24 without further incident. But the Navy linked an explosion and fire in the same gear the next month to Pinckney's incomplete account of the first fire. Damage from the second blaze cost $8.5 million to repair and knocked the destroyer out of commission for six months.

At the time of Pinckney's dismissal, Navy officials refused to say why he was relieved, citing privacy restrictions. A brief news release said that Vice Adm. Terry Etnyre, commander of Naval Surface Forces, “expressed his loss in confidence in Pinckney's ability to command” and reassigned him to shore duty.

No one else was disciplined in the case, Navy officials said. The Union-Tribune  sought a copy of the Halsey investigation in February through the Freedom of Information Act, but the request was denied.

The newspaper appealed, and the Navy released an edited version of the report this week. Pinckney, 46, has retired from the Navy after 27 years of service. He could not be reached for comment. The Halsey was commissioned in 2005. Pinckney took command of the destroyer in May 2006, three months before it left on its maiden deployment to the Western Pacific.

On the evening of the Halsey's arrival in Kagoshima, Pinckney hosted a two-hour reception for 30 crew members and 40 guests on the ship's fantail. Such parties are a routine courtesy when Navy ships visit overseas ports. The guests left by 8:30 p.m., and Pinckney later opened the party to the entire crew, several officers told naval investigators. Pinckney wanted the sailors to “decompress,” an officer said.

Some sailors took their beer to the mess hall, which another officer said “smelled like a brewery.” Two officers said Pinckney insisted that they drink alcohol even though they told him they were on duty.

“The (command duty officer) and I realized we may be the only sober line officers on the entire ship,” the duty operations officer that day said in a statement to investigators. “I was fed up, and this situation was totally (unsatisfactory).”

Shortly after 10 p.m., alarm bells signaled a fire in a dehumidifying unit of the No. 1 engine room. The duty officers became angry when only about 15 members of the firefighting team responded, several of them too drunk to put on their gear, investigators said. One officer said he randomly grabbed sober-looking sailors to help out.

The blaze was extinguished within minutes, but not before it spread to the main reduction gear. The duty officers said they had trouble reaching Pinckney, who had retired to his stateroom.

Over their objections, he ordered them not to enter the burned area until morning and not to send a report up the chain of command. An inspection the next morning showed that the fire had charred some wires but had not severely damaged the main reduction gear.

Pinckney deleted all references to the gear from the report he filed on the incident, investigators concluded. The fire's spread to the reduction gear might have stayed hidden if not for the second blaze.

Pinckney's superiors could have been able to prevent the second fire had they known the extent of the first incident, said Cmdr. Jane Campbell, a Naval Surface Forces spokeswoman. Cmdr. Paul Schlise, an 18-year Navy veteran who served in the Persian Gulf War, took command of the Halsey in March and has shepherded it through the extensive repairs.

The ship completed sea trials in late July and is expected to make its second deployment next year.