Crimes of Command

Crimes of Command illuminates the Navy's changed understanding of responsibility, accountability, and culpability from the end of World War II until today. From the ship that delivered the atomic bomb but lost 800 sailors to sharks, through Tailhook and the drunken debauchery that marked a generation of officers, to the 2017 Pacific Fleet collisions that took seventeen lives this story shows how the Navy's treasured ideal of accountability is a tradition without substance, a well-meaning concept romanticized by the inexperienced and used to maintain control over the Navy and it's heritage. This is the story of how one of the Nation's most revered institutions lost its way and the plan to get her back on track.