Commander Of US Destroyer Axed For ‘Loss Of Confidence’

In accordance with American media reports, Commander Cameron Yaste has been dismissed of his duties as commander of the USS John S. McCain, which is currently operating in the Gulf of Oman. It has been also reported that Captain Allison N. Christy, deputy commander of Destroyer Squadron 21, has also taken over Yaste’s job for the time being.

Captain Yaste took command of the destroyer USS John S. McCain in October 2023 and was fired on August 30. The American commander will soon return to Naval Station Everett (NSE) in Washington for administrative paperwork.

Rear Admiral Christopher Alexander, who leads the USS Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group, blamed the “loss of confidence” to command the guided-missile destroyer on Captain Yaste. This is an ambiguous reason that is often uttered in the United States’ military when it comes to elaborating the motive why a military person is discharged.

Given the lack of transparency on the reason behind the removal of the commander of the destroyer USS John S. McCain, as well as the mission of the US-UK coalition military fleet in West Asian waters, in particular against Yemen, it seems likely that this US commander was sacked due to his failure to confront the Yemeni Armed Forces’ missile and drone strikes.

In the military operations of the Yemeni Armed Forces against Israeli ships as well as vessels affiliated with this regime, US destroyers repeatedly confronted Yemeni missiles, drones, and unmanned surface vessels (USVs), which made the Yemeni army angry; therefore, the Yemenis attacked the US naval forces again.

Such Yemeni attacks have also inflicted some casualties and damages upon the American naval units, the exact extent of which has not yet been announced. The killing of two US marines in the Gulf of Aden and the attack of a suicide drone on the destroyer USS Gravely (DDG-107) are two examples of such stories that have been disclosed so far.