Washington: The US Navy has launched an
investigation into how a series of raunchy videos, full of
sexual innuendo, were produced and shown to the nearly 6,000
crew of the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise while on
deployment supporting the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Navy spokesman Cmdr. Chris Sims said the videos, which
were shown to the crew in 2006 and 2007, are "inappropriate."
Excerpts from the videos and descriptions of their
content were first published Saturday by The Virginian-Pilot
newspaper in Norfolk, Virginia, CNN reported.
The videos on the paper`s website, feature a man
identified by two Navy officials and The Virginian-Pilot as
Capt. Owen Honors, who at the time was the executive officer,
or second-in-command, of the Enterprise.
Honors is shown cursing along with other members of his
staff in an attempt to demonstrate humour, according to
videos. There are also anti-gay slurs, simulated sex acts, and
what appear to be two female sailors in a shower together.
The investigation was ordered on Friday by Adm. John
Harvey, the four-star head of the Navy`s Fleet Forces Command,
after the videos were detailed in The Virginian-Pilot.
The Navy issued a statement yesterday, saying in part
"production of videos, like the ones produced four to five
years ago on USS Enterprise and now being written about in the
Virginian-Pilot, were not acceptable then and are still not
acceptable in today`s Navy. The Navy does not endorse or
condone these kinds of actions."
"US Fleet Forces Command has initiated an
investigation into the circumstances surrounding the
production of these videos; however, it would be inappropriate
to comment any further on the specifics of the investigation,"
the statement said.
But yesterday`s statement was an about-face from the
initial military statement to the newspaper. In that
statement, the Navy said the videos were "not created with the
intent to offend anyone. The videos were intended to be
humorous skits focusing the crew`s attention on specific
issues such as port visits, traffic safety, water
conservation, ship cleanliness, etc."
Sims said senior officers had not yet seen the videos
when they issued the first statement. It was after viewing
them that the investigation was ordered, he said.
The Virginian-Pilot says the videos were shown over
the world`s first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier`s internal
broadcast system to its nearly 6,000 crew.
PTI
