Top Navy commanders reassigned after deadly crash that killed Decatur man

The two top officers on the USS John S. McCain have been reassigned from the ship involved in a crash that killed an Illinois man in August, according to The Washington Post.

Stephen Palmer, of Decatur, was one of ten sailors killed in the collision with a merchant vessel near Singapore. The crash was “preventable,” Vice Adm. Phil Sawyer, commander of the Seventh Fleet, said in a news release.

The 23-year-old man was posthumously advanced to Interior Communications Electrician 2nd Class in late August.

The officers were “relieved due to a loss of confidence,” according to the news release.

Sawyer said the investigation is ongoing. The news release said the commanding officer “exercise poor judgment, and the executive officer exercised poor leadership of the ship’s training program.”

This story was originally published October 11, 2017 at 10:44 AM with the headline "Top Navy commanders reassigned after deadly crash that killed Decatur man."