Navy relieves commander of littoral combat ship on deployment

The Navy relieved the commanding officer of a littoral combat ship deployed to the Middle East, 5th Fleet officials announced.

Cmdr. Adam Ochs was relieved as the commanding officer of USS Santa Barbara (LCS 32) on Thursday “due to a loss of confidence” in his ability to command, Navy officials said in a release. He has been temporarily reassigned as commander of Naval Surface Group Southwest.

Officials said the ship is currently on a scheduled deployment in the Navy’s 5th Fleet area of operations which covers 2.5 million square miles of water and 21 nations including the Red Sea, Gulf of Oman, Gulf of Aden, Arabian Sea, parts of the Indian Ocean and “critical choke points” at the Strait of Hormuz, the Suez Canal and the Strait of Bab al Mandeb.

”The relief does not impact the ship’s mission or schedule,” officials said.

In mid-August, the USS Santa Barbara made its first-ever port visit to Colombo, Sri Lanka, where the crew hosted senior officials from the island nation aboard the ship to “display” its combat capabilities.

Ochs, the former blue crew commanding officer, is being temporarily replaced by Cmdr. Jeff Steiner, the executive officer of the ship’s blue crew. The ship’s gold crew commanding officer, Cmdr. Linzy Lewis, is set to assume command of the USS Santa Barbara on Friday. Blue and gold crews refer to alternating independent crews on a naval vessel.

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Ochs took command of the Santa Barbara in November 2023.

This year, the USS Santa Barbara became one of the first littoral combat ships to deploy with a full minehunting suite.