Skipper, four others cleared in collision incident

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By Andrew Scutro
Times staff writer

Charges related to a March ship collision in the Persian Gulf were dismissed April 30 against Cmdr. Vince McBeth, skipper of destroyer McCampbell.

Five crew members — the tactical action officer, the officer of the deck, the conning officer, the Combat Information Center watch officer, and one enlisted member, the surface watch coordinator — also faced charges stemming from the March 26 incident involving McCampbell and the oil tanker M/V Rokaya 1 about 30 miles off the coast of Iraq.

Charges against McBeth and three crew members were dismissed at a non-judicial proceeding aboard the carrier Ronald Reagan in the Persian Gulf.

“The CO was charged with dereliction of duty, but this charge was dismissed,” said Naval Surface Forces spokesman Cmdr. Joe Navratil.

Dispositions of the other two crew members was not provided by Navratil due to pending litigation.

“The investigation has not been finalized,” he said.

The hearing was conducted aboard Reagan by the commodore of Destroyer Squadron 7, Capt. David F. Steindl.

At the time of the collision, McCampbell was assigned to Task Force 58, which defends two oil terminal platforms off the Iraq coast.

Two McCampbell sailors and two Rokaya 1 mariners were injured in the collision.

Rokaya 1, flagged in the Pacific island nation of Kiribati, poked a hole in McCampbell’s hull that was later patched by the crew.

McCampbell continues her six-month deployment.