DDG skipper, CMDCM fired

The commander and senior enlisted leader of the destroyer USS Barry (DDG-52) were removed from their posts for poor job performance, according to the Navy’s Destroyer Squadron 26. Commanding Officer Cmdr. Patrick Foster and Command Master Chief Torrence Kelly were relieved of duty Aug. 21 mere months before the Norfolk-based DDG was to change homeports to Yokosuka, Japan. Capt. Brian Fort, commander of DESRON-26, fired the duo following findings of an investigation a series of decisions that reflected “poor judgment … and poor program management,” according to a Navy release. CMDCM Kelly, on the job five months, was relieved due to a substandard performance. Cmdr. Zoah Scheneman, deputy commander of DESRON 26, has taken temporary charge. (Navy Times 08/21/15) Gulf Coast Shipbuilding Note: USS Barry was built at Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Miss., and commissioned December 1992 at the former Naval Station Pascagoula. Cmdr. Gary Roughead – who later became CNO – was the ship’s first commanding officer.