Second in command of secret attack submarine relieved of duty
COURTESY U.S. NAVY
The Seawolf-class fast-attack submarine USS Jimmy Carter transited the Hood Canal as the boat returned home to Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor, Wash., in 2017.
The second in command on a one-of-a-kind super secret attack submarine has been relieved of duty with the Navy now investigating his personal conduct, the U.S. Pacific Fleet Submarine Force said today.
“The executive officer of USS Jimmy Carter, Lt. Cmdr. Jonathan Cebik, has been relieved due to a loss of confidence in his personal judgment,” the Navy said in a statement.
Cebik reported to the Jimmy Carter, homeported at Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor, Wash., on April 30, 2018, according to his service record. He was relieved of duty Monday by the commander of Submarine Development Squadron 5.
Cmdr. Cindy Fields, spokeswoman for the Pearl Harbor-based Pacific Fleet Submarine Force, said she could not provide additional information about Cebik’s removal.
He has been administratively reassigned to Squadron 5.
Congressman Joe Courtney from Connecticut in 2016 presided over the promotion of Cebik to lieutenant commander when he was serving in Courtney’s Washington office as a Navy legislative fellow.
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Cebik was an “incredible asset,” Courtney said on Facebook at the time. “He is a career submariner in the Navy, and Jon has served sea tours on both fast attack and ballistic missile submarines,” Courtney said.
Cebik served aboard the ballistic missile sub USS Nevada from 2013 to 2015 and on the attack submarine USS Pasadena from 2007 to 2010.
Before joining the Jimmy Carter, he was a student at the Naval Leadership and Ethics Center in Rhode Island.
The Jimmy Carter is one of three Seawolf-class submarines that are exceptionally quiet and fast and were designed to counter Soviet submarine capability advances.
The Navy envisioned 29 of the subs, but their cost — $3.5 billion for the Jimmy Carter — and the end of the Cold War resulted in just three being built.
The Jimmy Carter, commissioned in 2005, was lengthened by 100 feet to 453 feet with the addition of a hull extension known as a multimission platform for additional payloads such as remotely operated vehicles and to carry out classified research on new warfighting capabilities.
