Commander Jeff Cima, Commanding Officer of USS CHICAGO (SSN-721) which is homeported in Pearl Harbor, was fired by SUBRON 3 for a drunken episode while at an ROTC unit (Cornell University) on the U.S. mainland. News reports suggest that he and another USS CHICAGO junior officer very overly intoxicated and the Cornell NROTC midshipmen had to phone for assistance in getting the 2 CHICAGO officers safely back to their hotel.Commander Cima had been in command for less than a year (August 2009). He previously served as Executive Officer of USS PENNSYLVANIA (Blue).
He was "command qualified" while a Lieutenant Commander serving as the Engineering Officer aboard USS PASADENA.
He joins our list of fired Commanding Officers in the number 7 position. Not so lucky, in this case.
Jeff Cima's video of USS CHICAGO crew visit to Chicago is HERE.
Word is that his JOs ratted him out. JOs are no longer willing to put up with obnoxious COs.
ReplyDeleteI think we are two reliefs short this month......
ReplyDeleteLiquor control and zipper control are fundamental. Lose either and you might as well be gamblin man. Your days are numbered
ReplyDeleteD&K?
ReplyDeleteI thought "Nukes" were suppose to be smart? :)
ReplyDeleteI recall a time in the mid-1980s in Hawaii when I drove an intoxicated USS Unnamed CG CO/XO and supply officer back to the ship from downtown Honolulu, without incident or reporting. Leads me to believe that something got out of control in New York and that the former CO of USS CHICAGO was more than drunk.
ReplyDeleteCaptain, While you're probably correct that there's more to this than just a guy getting drunk, it's also not the mid-1980s anymore. There are plenty of things that were considered routine back then that will get you fired in a heartbeat these days.
ReplyDeleteC-dore 14
Anyone know what really happened here? It sounds like he must have hit on a middy or something? Maybe said something disparaging about women and/or homosexuals on submarines?
ReplyDeleteI worked with CDR Cima, and note that he is *extremely* homophobic... Odd for a submariner, I know...
Note that I don't mean to disparage him in any way, as he was a very competent officer. It's just one personality trait that stood out to me, and with the cultural changes brewing on the horizon combined with alcohol, perhaps something inappropriate was said.
ReplyDelete