When the Navy quietly fires the entire leadership of one of its most advanced submarines, lawmakers expect to hear about it — but this time, they didn’t. Now, two senior members of Congress are demanding answers about a breakdown in a long-standing tradition of military transparency.
Representatives Adam Smith (D-WA) and Joe Courtney (D-CT), the ranking members of the House Subcommittee on Seapower and Projection Forces, sent a formal letter to Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Daryl Caudle and Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao, calling out the Navy for failing to notify Congress about the removal of three top officers from the USS South Dakota, a Virginia-class attack submarine.
The letter states directly:
“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 three officers removed were Cmdr. Daniel Goodwin, Lt. Cmdr. Jacqueline Penichet, and Senior Chief Information Systems Technician (Submarines) Jon Nogaj. None of their dismissals were communicated to the House Armed Services Committee. Congress only learned of the situation through a November 11 news report — with the dismissal of the commanding officer first confirmed by The Day, a New London, Connecticut newspaper.
What Triggered the Firings?
According to Smith and Courtney, the removal of the entire command triad is believed to be connected to a grounding incident involving the submarine. The Navy has not publicly confirmed the reason, and as of the letter’s release, lawmakers said they still had not received any official explanation from the Navy about why the leadership was relieved.
Removing a command triad — the commanding officer, executive officer, and senior enlisted leader — simultaneously is a significant and rare event in the military. Such actions typically trigger mandatory notification to Congress, particularly when they follow at-sea incidents, accidents, or other operational failures.
No Law, But a Clear Tradition
While there is no statute requiring the Navy to notify Congress of leadership firings, Smith and Courtney emphasized that it is a well-established practice — one that enables informed policymaking and upholds accountability between the Defense Department and the American public.
The lawmakers pointed to several past incidents where the Navy did follow this tradition. After the deadly 2017 collisions involving the USS Fitzgerald and the USS John S. McCain — both Arleigh Burke-class destroyers — Congress was informed. The same was true following grounding incidents involving the USS Hartford, a Los Angeles-class submarine, and the USS Connecticut, a Seawolf-class fast-attack submarine.
By bypassing that tradition in this case, critics argue the Navy has weakened a critical check on how the military handles serious operational failures — leaving the public and their elected representatives in the dark on matters of national security significance.
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