The United States Navy fired both the commanding and executive officers of the U.S. naval ship repair facility in Yokosuka, Japan, this past weekend.
Capt. Zaldy Valenzuela and Cmdr. Art Palalay were relieved of their duties as commanding officer and executive officer, respectively, on Sunday, with the U.S. Navy citing “a loss of confidence in their ability to command.”
Capt. Dan Lannamann, former commanding officer of Mid-Atlantic Regional Maintenance Center in Norfolk, VA, has temporarily taken over as the head of the facility, while Cmdr. Timothy Emge, the center’s operations officer, will serve as the temporary executive officer until a permanent replacement is selected.
The U.S. Naval Ship Repair Facility and Japan Regional Maintenance Center (SRF-JRMC) has been described as “the linchpin of U.S. naval operations in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region.” SRF-JRMC is equipped with six dry docks and has provided intermediate-level and depot-level repair for the ships of the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Seventh Fleet for more than 75 years.
Latest Shake-Up With the U.S. Navy
The U.S. Navy rarely provides specific details when a commanding officer is relieved, and no additional information was shared regarding this recent decision.
“The Navy holds commanding officers and others in authority to the highest standards. Naval leaders are entrusted with significant responsibilities to their Sailors and commands,” the sea service said in a statement.
Valenzuela previously served as a ship superintendent and carrier type desk officer at SRF-JRMC and as an electrical division officer aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD-6). He also served as the combat and communications officer aboard the amphibious command ship USS Blue Ridge (LCC-19)
Palalay, who enlisted in the Navy in 1993 and was commissioned in 2006, had previously served as the readiness officer at Commander Naval Surface Forces Pacific before becoming the XO of SRF-JRMC last year.
The dismissals of Valenzuela and Palalay followed several other officers being relieved of command just this year.
That included the SEAL commodore for Naval Special Warfare Group Eight (NSWG-8), who was fired in March; the removal of the “Gold Crew” commanding officer of the nuclear-powered guided-missile submarine USS Ohio (SSGN-726) the same month; and the “Blue Crew” commanding officer of the Ohio-class guided-missile submarine USS Georgia (SSGN-729), who was relieved in January. All three of those officers were dismissed for drunk driving-related incidents.
As of June, 12 commanding officers had been relieved of command, including three that had not been previously made public. In addition, two of the dismissed U.S. Navy commanding officers were also chaplains – including Capt. Daniel Mode, who served as the U.S. Coast Guard’s top chaplain since 2022. He was relieved of command in April for failing to take action after he was made aware of sexual misconduct involving another chaplain.
2024 is on Par With 2023
At this point, it would seem that 2024 will see around the same number of dismissals. However, it is important to note that commanders may also be relieved for medical reasons, and may even ask to be relieved of command.
As Task & Purpose reported in January, in 2023, the sea service “relieved a total of 16 commanding officers of command: 14 were fired ‘due to a loss of confidence’ in their ability to command.” The report added that eight of those relieved were commanding officers of warships. In addition, the executive officer of USS John Finn (DDG-113) was removed from his post.
Each year several officers, notably those in command positions, are removed from command. The U.S. Navy holds commanding officers to a very high standard, and they are held accountable for their own performance as well as the conduct of the sailors and Marines under their command.
While the U.S. Navy rarely goes into details, there are generally three reasons that a commanding officer may be relieved of command – including bad personal judgment, violation of a law, or poor performance.
Currently, there are approximately 1,600 commanding officers in the active-duty U.S. Navy.
