There is Dysfunction, and then there's USS Manchester (LCS 14) Gold Crews in 2023

yes..."stinky" is appropriate

You know those stories that the more you read it and the more you ponder it, the worse it looks? And then, when you see the reaction of the Navy to it, it just makes less sense?

Well, this is one of those stories.

It is hard to get your head around Diana Stancy’s reporting at Navy Times on Tuesday about what happened on the USS Manchester (LCS 14) Gold Crew in 2023. Don’t get me wrong, the reporting is great, but the story?

To start with, remember, LCS crews are small.

Something of this scale is … well …

BEHOLD!

As the ship prepared for a West Pacific deployment in April 2023, the enlisted leader onboard conspired with the ship’s chiefs to install the secret, unauthorized network aboard the ship, for use exclusively by them.

So while rank-and-file sailors lived without the level of internet connectivity they enjoyed ashore, the chiefs installed a Starlink satellite internet dish on the top of the ship and used a Wi-Fi network they dubbed “STINKY” to check sports scores, text home and stream movies.

At the bottom of the post, look at the CV of Marrero. She knew the danger she was putting the ship in, not to mention the outright insubordination floating around in a stew of ethical, legal, and yes moral failures. This isn’t just a bunch of junior Sailors being Sailors. Not by a long shot.

I can understand an individual failure, but an entire Chiefs’ Mess?

Led by the senior enlisted leader of the ship’s gold crew, then-Command Senior Chief Grisel Marrero, the effort roped in the entire chiefs mess by the time it was uncovered a few months later.

Marrero was relieved in late 2023 after repeatedly misleading and lying to her ship’s command about the Wi-Fi network, and she was convicted at court-martial this spring in connection to the scheme.

She was sentenced to a reduction in rank to E-7 after the trial and did not respond to requests for comment for this report.

Only to E-7?

After this?

…more than 15 Manchester chiefs were in cahoots with Marrero to purchase, install and use the Starlink system aboard the ship…including the covert installation of a Starlink satellite dish on the outside of the Manchester.

…

The Starlink dish was installed on the Manchster’s O-5 level weatherdeck during a “blanket” aloft period, which requires a sailor to hang high above or over the side of the ship.

During a “blanket” aloft, duties are not documented in the deck logs or the officer of the deck logs, according to the investigation.

It’s unclear who harnessed up and actually installed the system for Marrero due to redactions in the publicly released copy of the probe, but records show Marrero powered up the system the night before the ship got underway to the West Pacific waters of U.S. 7th Fleet.

For those who are not aware—this is not innocent jackassing. This description is an understatement. You don’t want to know the classified description.

Unauthorized Wi-Fi systems like the one Marrero set up are a massive no-no for a deployed Navy ship, and Marrero’s crime occurred as the ship was deploying to the West Pacific, where such security concerns become even more paramount among heightened tensions with the Chinese.

“The installation and usage of Starlink, without the approval of higher headquarters, poses a serious risk to mission, operational security, and information security,” the investigation states.

I’m still having trouble understanding how this dysfunction took place for so long.

Little stays secret within the close quarters of a deployed ship, and shortly after getting underway, scuttlebutt started swirling among some sailors about the unauthorized Wi-Fi network, the investigation states.

The ship’s former executive officer, Cmdr. Matthew Yokeley, caught wind of the rumors in May and notified the commanding officer, Cmdr. Colleen Moore.

Moore confronted Marrero about whether the chief’s mess had an unauthorized Wi-Fi network that same month.

...Marrero denied that such a Wi-Fi network existed. But she soon changed the “STINKY” Wi-Fi network name to another moniker that looked like a wireless printer — even though no such general-use wireless printers were present on the ship, the investigation found.

Moore and Yokeley conducted an inspection inside the ship but did not find any evidence of an unauthorized Wi-Fi system. They did not check the exterior of the ship.

Separately, the Navy relieved Yokeley days later on May 19, 2023. The Navy has said his relief was unrelated to Marrero’s crimes.

You cannot swing a dead cat around the waterfront in San Diego and not find someone who can help you find unauthorized tempest hazards. No one called in outside help?

…Marrero seized a comment placed in the CO’s suggestion box regarding the Wi-Fi network so that it wouldn’t end up in Moore’s hands, according to the investigation.

But Moore received another comment in the suggestion box about the network weeks later, in the middle of July, and again approached Marrero about the network. Again, Marrero denied its existence.

Moore and the ship’s acting executive officer, Cmdr. Samuel Moffett, then conducted another sweep inside the ship.

Don’t think it could get worse? Imagine the crew being told this:

Moore told the crew during an all-hands call on July 14, 2023, that no covert Wi-Fi network existed aboard the ship.

Look at where Marrero put her commanding officer, intentionally—and she was only busted one paygrade and is still a Navy Chief?

Weeks after the all-hands call, in August, Moore and Moffett conducted a third, internal inspection of the ship after an outgoing crew member claimed that a secret Wi-Fi network did exist.

It appears that, once again, no call for outside help. I am sure we do, as we once did, have people who all they do is look for “Tempest Hazards” on ships. We do still have that, yes?

Laugh, cry, or scream … I won’t judge you, but I don’t think this was covered in the OOD In-Port PQS:

On August 18, a civilian from the Naval Information Warfare Center installing an authorized Starshield satellite communication system on the Manchester notified the officer of the deck of the chiefs mess Starlink satellite dish on the O-5 weatherdeck.

We need to discuss the Combat Systems Officer for a moment…and look again at why Marrrero is still a Chief…and the CO … good googly moogly. At this point, I’m just glad no one was killed.

The Manchester’s combat systems officer soon took a photo of the dish, and then called in another unidentified crew member to the stateroom to ask if he or she had any knowledge of the dish. The crew member pointed the combat systems officer to Marrero, and then texted Marrero that the combat systems officer knew about the dish and had snapped a photo of it.

“The gig is up,” Marrero texted back, according to the investigation.

Marrero’s secret Starlink dish was removed the same day, and Marrero told another unidentified crew member the next day that it was authorized for in-port use — prompting sailors to re-install the illegal Starlink.

Moore learned about the Starlink dish on Aug. 24, six days after its discovery, during a conversation with the operations officer who had heard second-hand information about the presence of an unauthorized Wi-Fi network.

Moore called the combat systems officer into the stateroom to ask what they knew about the network. The combat systems officer admitted to learning about the system on Aug. 18, but said they didn’t tell Moore about it after discussions with mentors.

Where do we start?

Why would any naval officer need to “discuss with mentors” about if they should bring such a matter to the Commanding Officer about HER SHIP?

How does someone have such arrogance or internet addiction to do something like this which seems to be the same mindset of a drug addict stealing, lying, and generally doing the worst things possible to people in their family just to feed their addiction?

It gets worse:

Later that day, Moore approached Marrero again about the dish and whether it belonged to the chief’s mess.

Marrero responded that she “she was not tracking” and told Moore she would hold a meeting with the chief’s mess.

During that chiefs mess meeting, Marrero told her fellow enlisted leaders that Moore knew about their secret Wi-Fi, and two chiefs subsequently removed the dish from the O-5 weatherdeck.

An unidentified chief also volunteered to take responsibility for the network.

The next day, an unidentified chief provided Moore with false statements regarding the installation of the dish, and who was responsible.

…

The chief also told Moore that they only used the connection while in port.

Moore remained skeptical, however, and told Marrero later she didn’t believe that.

To bolster their lie that the Wi-Fi was only used in port, Marrero and another chief altered Starlink data usage charts from the service’s website to make it look like the chiefs mess only used the Wi-Fi network in port.

…

Marrero then shared these fabricated charts with Moore, but Moore “did not trust the data usage charts as they appeared to be poorly doctored,” investigators wrote.

Marrero finally confessed and apologized to Moore on Aug. 26, copping to the fact that she deceived her CO throughout the entirety of the deployment.

An unidentified crew member removed the Starlink cable following that meeting, and Moore contacted leadership from Littoral Combat Ship Squadron 3 and Destroyer Squadron 7 to fill them in.

There’s more. Read the whole thing.

Here is a funny side-note, as of the evening of September 3rd, Senior Chief Marrero’s bio showing her as still the Command Senior Chief is still on SURFPAC’s website.

In case they take it down soon or overnight, here’s the screenshot.

I mean…who is running this?

There is a greater story to be told here that has a lot more say about the “Get her scheduled for a MRI to make sure she does not have a brain tumor” activity of Marrero.