Members of Congress called out the Navy Thursday for purportedly firing the three leaders of a Navy Virginia-class attack submarine without notifying them of the development, as is customary.
Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., and Rep. Joe Courtney, D-Conn., ranking members of the House Subcommittee on Seapower and Projection Forces, sent a letter to Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Daryl Caudle and Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao, chiding them for leaving Congress in the dark on important military matters regarding the USS South Dakota.
“We write to express deep frustration over the Navy’s failure to notify the House Armed Services Committee of the relief of the Commanding Officer, Executive Officer, and Chief of the Boat of the USS South Dakota (SSN 790) on October 14, 2026,” the letter reads.
The firings of Cmdr. Daniel Goodwin and purportedly that of Lt. Cmdr. Jacqueline Penichet and Senior Chief Information Systems Technician (Submarines) Jon Nogaj were never communicated to the lawmakers. At-sea incidents, accidents and dismissals of command triads typically warrants the Navy to inform Congress.
The firing of the commanding officer was made public through a Nov. 11 article, the letter said.
The lawmakers did not specify the outlet, but the dismissal of leadership was first confirmed by The Day, a New London, Connecticut newspaper. According to Smith and Courtney, the dismissals were allegedly due to a grounding incident.
Though there is no law requiring the Navy to notify lawmakers of firings, the lawmakers said, it is an established tradition that leads to informed policy decisions while strengthening accountability and transparency between the Defense Department and the public.
Smith and Courtney cited past incidents that the Navy notified Congress of, including at-sea collisions involving the Arleigh Burke-class destroyers USS Fitzgerald and USS John S. McCain, and grounding incidents involving the Los Angeles-class submarine USS Hartford and Seawolf-class fast-attack submarine USS Connecticut.
As of the Thursday letter’s release, the Navy still had not informed lawmakers as to the reason for the commander triad’s removal.
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