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Second Navy officer fired over sailor detainment in Iran

By Martin Smith
Two Riverine Command Boats participate in a bi-lateral exercise with Kuwait naval forces in the Arabian Gulf in November 2015. Photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Torrey W. Lee/U.S. Navy
Two Riverine Command Boats participate in a bi-lateral exercise with Kuwait naval forces in the Arabian Gulf in November 2015. Photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Torrey W. Lee/U.S. Navy

WASHINGTON, June 24 (UPI) -- Another officer responsible for two Navy patrol boats that were detained after straying into Iranian waters has been fired.

Capt. Kyle S. Moses, commander of Task Force 56, was responsible for the two vessels and Kuwait-based crew. The crew of 10 sailors were captured and detained for 16 hours in January.

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Moses was "relieved due to a loss of confidence in his ability to command," the Navy said in a statement.

He has been replaced by Capt. Richard M. Meyer, who was serving as the chief of staff for U.S. Naval Forces Central Command.

He is the second officer to lose his job after two patrol boats from Coastal Riverine Squadron 3 drifted into Iranian waters near Farsi Island, an Iranian base in the Persian Gulf.

Iranian forces captured the high-speed patrol boats hours after the boats left Kuwait Jan. 12 with the intended purpose of sailing to Bahrain. Five sailors were aboard each boat.

The Navy crew was said to be inexperienced and running late to make a rendezvous at a refueling point in the Persian Gulf when the capture took place.

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The detention of the U.S. crew came the same day as President Barack Obama's State of the Union address, and at a time when his administration was trying to usher through a nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers led by the United States.

Days after the incident, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said the Navy patrol boats had "misnavigated" into Iranian territorial waters.

Last month, the second in command of the riverine squadron, Cmdr. Eric Rasch, was fired from his job.

Both firings come as a result of an in-depth investigation of the incident. The findings are expected to be released by Chief of Naval Operations John Richardson on June 30.

Cmdr. Mike Kafka, a Navy spokesman, said in a statement that the results had been "referred to appropriate commands for adjudication." These could range from criminal charges and a court-martial trial to administrative punishment.

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