The captain of the HMS Queen Elizabeth has simply been relieved of command, reportedly over borrowing the ship’s automotive for private use. Yet the US Marines are about to do principally the identical with the Royal Navy’s flagship provider.
Commodore Nick Cook-Priest, who took over as captain of the Queen Elizabeth (R08) in October 2018, has simply been “reassigned” and ordered to sail the ship again to Portsmouth after a dry-dock refit.
“We can only say that management action is ongoing and it would therefore be inappropriate to comment further,” the Royal Navy stated in a press release. Several UK media shops, nonetheless, reported that Cook-Priest was reprimanded for utilizing the ship’s official automotive, a Ford Galaxy minivan, for private journeys on the weekends.
Cook-Priest was not accused of fraud or embezzlement, and reportedly paid for the fuel himself. Still, it seems that borrowing a ship’s official minivan is a career-ending mistake in the Royal Navy, and Cook-Priest can be changed by Captain Steve Moorhouse, at present in command of the HMS Prince of Wales, the provider’s sister ship nonetheless beneath building.
The two 280-meter, 65,000-ton ships are the largest-ever Royal Navy vessels, although nonetheless dwarfed by the US Ford-class supercarriers.