The female commanding officer of a Navy amphibious ship quit her command on Monday, according to a report, in a highly unusual move for a CO.
Navy Times reported that Cmdr. Sarah DeGroot walked away from command of the dock landing ship Rushmore on Monday. But three sources were unable to tell the newspaper specifically why DeGroot told Capt. Homer Denius, the head of Amphibious Squadron 3, why she was giving up command.
No administrative or disciplinary actions are pending against DeGroot for the move, said Lt. Cmdr. Rebecca Haggard, spokeswoman for Naval Surface Force Pacific. But DeGroot’s actions will almost certainly doom her Navy career.
Command in the Navy is traditionally considered the pinnacle of an officer’s career, often outshining follow-on prestigious assignments. The Navy more than the other services holds its commanders accountable, and has a long history of removing those officers for any number of reasons, from command climate to inappropriate behavior to collisions.
In 2011, the commanding officer of the Blue Angels, Cmdr. Dave Koss, voluntarily stepped down from command of the Blue Angels after one of his planes conducted a low-altitude stunt at a Virginia air show that was deemed unsafe.
Rushmore is a Whidbey Island-class dock landing ship that carries about 420 sailors and a Marine detachment of about 400 more. The ship, which is homeported in San Diego, is able to flood its well deck and “ballast down” in order to launch beach-assaulting watercraft.
