Did Skippers Seriously get Court martialed for losing their ship?

[Snowman999]

Originally Posted by DeepSix

Technically...

a court-martial is a court of inquiry. Military law differs in some significant ways from civilian law. As Sailor Steve said, they're held to review serious incidents such as loss of one's ship. But being "court-martialed" is simply being "martialed," or ordered to appear, before a board of review. It often gets misused to refer to conviction for an offense, but that's not what it actually means.

Still... not something you want on your DD-214.

No, a Court of Inquiry is NOT a court martial or vice versa. A CofI is administrative, not judicial. There are no charges pending.

See http://www.cnn.com/interactive/law/0...t.exclude.html

for a good summary.