Photo by Michael Lee/U.S. Navy
A COMMANDER has been sacked from his position on a U.S. Navy submarine after he admitted that he hired female prostitutes while he was in the Philippines on March 2018.
In a report from Kitsap Sun on Friday, January 11, United States Ship (USS) Bremerton commander Captain Travis Zettel was removed from his post in August 2018 due to “a loss of confidence in his ability to command the Los Angeles-class fast attack submarine, which is now tied up in Bremerton for decommissioning.”
According to reports, a certain source informed the Department of Defense Inspector General’s hotline about the incident in Subic Bay, Zambales while the submarine was docked. The call was then transferred to the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) for further inquiries.
The unnamed caller reportedly explained that Zettel came up to him and another sailor while they were at the pool. The commander said that he “requested/ordered” 10 girls “to arrive at the hotel.” Around dinner, the sailor saw “provocatively dressed females outside (Zettel’s) front door.”
Another sailor was also seen “walking around and talking to other sailors in his command with three local females holding onto his arm.” The crew was in Subic Bay, Zambales for a port call on March 1, 2018.
In May 2018, a month after USS Bremerton arrived for decommissioning and two months after the incident, the NCIS conducted an investigation wherein Zettel “admitted culpability in the payment of female accompaniment.”
The naval investigation team reprimanded the commander as they decided to relieve him from his post. They administratively reassigned him to the staff of Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor-based Submarine Squadron 19.
The other sailor who was seen with three local female companions denied his participation in prostitution and he was not “pursued for disciplinary action,” according to the Washington-based daily with documents provided from the Freedom of Information Act request.
Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. lauded the United States for its verdict of axing the submarine commander noting that it is a “responsible state” for issuing such a decision.
“He was fired by the U.S. government. Now that’s a responsible state,” Locsin said in a post on Twitter.
The former USS Bremerton submarine commander is a native of Puyallup, Washington. He was commissioned in 1998 and first served on board the USS Salt Lake City before carrying out various assignments aboard other submarines.
