Navy to probe lewd video by top officer

The Associated Press

NORFOLK, Va. - The Navy said Sunday it will investigate "clearly inappropriate" videos broadcast to the crew of nuclear-powered aircraft carrier in which a top officer of the ship used gay slurs, mimicked masturbation and opened the shower curtain on women pretending to bathe together.

The star of the videos, made in 2006 and 2007, is a former Top Gun pilot who now commands the same ship, the Norfolk-based USS Enterprise, which was deployed in the Middle East at the time and is weeks from deploying again.

The Virginian-Pilot newspaper reported on the videos Saturday and posted an edited version of one video on its website.

Capt. Owen Honors, a 1983 Naval Academy graduate, appeared in the videos while he was the ship's executive officer, the second in command, and they aired on the ship's closed-circuit TV. Honors took over as the ship's commander in May.

It's not immediately known why the videos are surfacing now. The paper quoted anonymous crew members who said they raised concerns aboard the ship about the videos when they aired, but they were brushed off.

It appears from the videos that Honors had already gotten complaints when some of them were made. "Over the years I've gotten several complaints about inappropriate material during these videos, never to me personally but, gutlessly, through other channels," he said in the introduction to the posted video.

In the same segment, Honors uses a derogatory term for gays. Honors later segues by saying, "Finally let's get to my favorite topic . . . chicks in the shower." Next are shown clips of pairs of women and a pair of men pretending to shower together. No nudity is shown, but the men's and women's bare shoulders imply they are nude. Navy Cmdr. Chris Sims said in a statement to AP that the videos "were not acceptable then and are not acceptable in today's Navy," adding that executive officers and other leaders "are charged to lead by example and are held accountable for setting the proper tone." Sims said U.S. Fleet Forces Command "has initiated an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the production of these videos."

In a statement to the paper on Friday, however, the Navy said it had put a stop to videos with "inappropriate content" on the Enterprise several years ago.

It also said 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."

The ship's commanding officer when the videos were made, Lawrence Rice, was promoted to rear admiral and now works at the U.S. Joint Forces Command, where a message left for him Sunday was not returned.