The commanders of the two U.S. guided-missile destroyers involved in collisions that killed 17 sailors in Asia last year will be court-martialed on charges including negligent homicide, according to The Wall Street Journal. The Navy is filing criminal charges against six sailors and another eight will face nonjudicial punishment, which could include reductions in rank and pay loss. The former commander of the USS Fitzgerald Cmdr. Bryce Benson will face charges of negligent homicide, dereliction of duty and hazarding a vessel, as will three of his lieutenants. Cmdr. Benson was seriously injured in the June collision with a commercial vessel near Tokyo writes WSJ. The former commander of USS John S. McCain, Cmdr. Alfredo J. Sanchez will face similar charges. A chief petty officer from the McCain has already been charged with dereliction of duty. The ship collided with a commercial tanker off the coast of Singapore in August. Ten sailors were killed. The collisions involving the Fitzgerald and McCain made for the deadliest year of noncombat deaths in the U.S. military since 1989. Those facing criminal charges will be subjected to a military proceeding known as an Article 32 hearing. This is similar to a civilian preliminary hearing or grand jury. After the collisions, reports said that the crews had been forced to work for hundreds of hours on ships that bypassed required checks and inspections for months at a time. The officer on deck of the USS Fitzgerald failed to comply with rules governing the speed at which the ship was operating, its ability to maneuver and requirements to notify other ships of potential danger, writes WSJ. The Navy concluded that both collisions were avoidable.
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