An old saying is that the Captain of a ship is the judge, jury and executioner. While it is true that the Captain is the ultimate authority, there are obvious laws and regulations that he (or she) must also follow. The largest ships such as aircraft carriers have a “law officer” on board who is not a law enforcer but is something like a corporation lawyer. He or she would be a member of the Judge Advocate General Corps, called the JAG Corps, and would advise the Captain on murky elements of the law. The officers on smaller ships such as destroyers are on their own, and over the years I had a few cases of applying justice.
There are two basic types of courts and punishment on Navy ships: the court-martial and Non-Judicial Punishment (NJP) which is known as Captain’s Mast. There are three types of courts-martial; General, Special, and Summary. I’ve never heard of a General Court-Martial on a destroyer because it requires a qualified judge (a JAG officer) and is otherwise similar to a federal court in that it only handles the most serious crimes. A Special Court-Martial requires a qualified judge and at least three members who are similar to a jury, and they are limited in punishments similar to misdemeanor conviction in civilian court. I was a member of a Special Court-Martial once. A Summary Court-Martial consisted of one officer and could try only enlisted members, and was limited in punishments if found guilty. For example: reduction in rank (loss of one stripe), up to 30 days in the brig, etc. I served as a Summary Court-Martial once.
Finally there is Non-Judicial Punishment (NJP), or Captain’s Mast. In the sailing days, a sailor accused of wrongdoing was made to stand before the mast while the Captain would decide whether to have him tied to the mast and flogged, or let go with a warning. In these days the Captain might let him go with a warning, or could restrict him from shore leave for several days, or 3 days in the brig on bread and water (Yes - this was still done when I was on active duty).
My first experience with a court-martial was in about 1962 or 3 when I was a lowly Ensign on the destroyer USS PARSONS (DD 949). I’m pretty sure I was assigned to be one of the three officers on the court because no one wanted the job. The case was that two sailors were caught kissing and “engaging in homosexual activities”, and this was unspeakable. There was only one witness called; it was the night duty petty officer who had been making his rounds after taps when he found them. They had nothing to say other than to plead guilty, so we had nothing to do other than to find that they should be discharged dishonorably. Times have changed in the
My other experience with a court-martial was a few years later when I was chosen to convene a summary court-martial. I was the senior watch officer on the USS ROGERS (DD 876) and the case was “missing movement” and unauthorized absence. The Captain wanted a summary court-martial not because of the potential punishment, since the punishment he could give was almost identical if he called the sailor to Captain’s Mast. What he wanted is the court-martial to be on the record (Captain’s Mast results would stay on the ship and wouldn’t always follow the sailor). In any case it was open and shut. The ship had been in port in Kobe, Japan for a few days and then we sailed for the Philippines. Sailor X didn’t get back on board for about three weeks until he caught up with us. I asked him why he missed getting back to the ship and he admitted he was drunk and got to the pier too late. I asked him why he didn’t turn himself in to the shore patrol right away, and his answer was “I dunno”. In fact, he waited about two weeks before he turned himself in, and he then admitted that he had waited until he had run out of money and credit cards. So he had taken a two week vacation just because he felt like it. He was a third class petty officer, so I “busted him” back to seaman and restricted him to the ship until we returned to San Diego. The Captain approved my decision and the next superior (the squadron Commodore) approved it, so my one and only decision as a judge still holds.
In 1976 and 77 I was on the destroyer USS POWER (DD 839) home ported in New York, first as the Executive Officer and later as Captain. I held Captain’s Mast every couple of weeks, and all were minor issues. There was one problem that I was unable to solve; we had a “pot” dealer on board, but we couldn’t identify him. The Chief Master at Arms and I had suspicions but we couldn’t prove anything. However we finally had a break. We found a big stash in a tool locker, and although we couldn’t pin it on anyone we had a great idea. We were at sea just off the coast of Long Island and it was quite windy. I had the boatswain mate pipe all hands on deck and assembled the crew on the fantail. The Chief Master at Arms took the stash and tossed it overboard a handful at a time; the crew watched the wind take each handful away. We were certain that the sailor with the tortured look was our guy although we couldn’t prove it.
But the story continued. We were back in port in a few days and the next day our prime suspect came back to the ship in bad shape. His face and hands looked normal, but when he took off his shirt his body was black and blue all over. His problem was he had bought the pot on commission and he couldn’t pay his suppliers. They were experts in beating up guys with rubber hoses filled with BBs. He stayed on board for at least two months and we had no more pot problems.
One final recollection about justice (or injustice). In the late 1960s I was on the destroyer ROGERS in San Diego for a few weeks of maintenance. At the same time a Turkish destroyer was in San Diego. Our squadron commander rotated from ship-to-ship in the squadron and he was on board the ROGERS for a few weeks. Since he was SOPA (senior officer present afloat) his radiomen manned our radios around the clock. We happened to hear that the Turks asked SOPA for permission to execute one of their crew members! He told them that was not possible, so they asked if they could get underway. They received permission and headed out to sea just beyond the 3 mile limit where they were in international waters. Although we were never able to completely verify the execution, we heard that one of their sailors had struck an officer, and he was immediately found guilty and hanged from a yardarm. It makes one thankful for U S Navy Justice.
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