Crimes of Command: in the United States Navy 1945-2015

by Michael Junge

Crimes of Command illuminates the Navy’s changed understanding of responsibility, accountability, and culpability from the end of World War II until today. From the ship that delivered the atomic bomb but lost 800 sailors to sharks, through Tailhook and the drunken debauchery that marked a generation of officers, to the 2017 Pacific Fleet collisions that took seventeen lives this story shows how the Navy’s treasured ideal of accountability is a tradition without substance, a well-meaning concept romanticized by the inexperienced and used to maintain control over the Navy and it’s heritage. This is the story of how one of the Nation’s most revered institutions lost its way and the plan to get her back on track.

296 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 21, 2018

Reviews

[Kevin Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating and Well Written; Could Not Put it Down!

Why does the Navy remove so many commanding officers for cause? CAPT Michael Junge, through his personal insight as a warship captain and remarkable depth of research answers that question in this entertaining and timely thesis. Using infamous at-sea incidents, he shows the reader how US naval culture has changed over the past 75 years and the milestones of that change. He puts the “who” in it, identifying the drivers of this change and the damage they have wrought despite their good intentions. This is also a history of our society during this period, and in his conclusion CAPT Junge suggests a way back to an even keel as the Navy - a reflection of our society - moves forward. Must reading for military professionals and leaders of any organization that manages risk. BZ!

[Mary Regina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating reading. I enjoyed the history of naval command authority, follow-up to the incidents written, and recommendations for improvement in how the Navy handles these cases.

[Rob Lewis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well-researched and brilliantly written, this book is a fascinating study of leadership and accountability within the Navy but with a broad potential application. I’d recommend it to anyone interested in leadership, in institutional risk and liability, and even litigation. Again even though it discusses the Navy—which makes it very interesting—it actually provides a vocabulary for evaluating error and fault in a moral and ethical manner and provides a framework for redemption after failure that recognizes the significant value to an organization of even a blemished career. Even though I haven’t been in the Navy for 25 years, I couldn’t put it down.

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an important book, one that should be read by War College students and discussed in military leadership courses.

In the book, the author compares cases resulting in the removal of Navy commanding officers throughout the Cold War era. Not just a book of “Navy Crimes,” this volume compares the methods and outcomes of military justice in various cases to demonstrate a consistent trend to ever more rigidity, ever less fairness and compassion. The author goes on to make the case for a return to a more compassionate process.

The book is self-published, so it bears some of the marks and issues common to such works. I hope the Naval Institute Press picks it up for publication, assigns a good editor, and smooths out the rough spots.