41 Facts About Fred Moosally

Fred P Moosally was born on 4 October 1944 and is a former captain in the United States Navy.

Fred Moosally was captain of the Iowa when the center gun of one of the ship's main gun turrets exploded on April 19,1989, killing 47 crewmen.

In December 1989 in testimony before the United States Senate Armed Services Committee, Fred Moosally declined to fully support the Navy's conclusion that the explosion had been intentionally caused by Clayton Hartwig, one of the turret's crewmen.

Fred Moosally retired from the Navy soon after in May 1990.

Fred Moosally, born and raised in Youngstown, Ohio, was one of six children in a family of three sons and three daughters.

Fred Moosally's father was an insurance salesman and the family attended the local Syriac Maronite Church.

At Ursuline High School, according to Charles Thompson, Fred Moosally played American football.

Fred Moosally graduated high school in 1962 and was recruited by Penn State and the University of Pittsburgh to play football.

Fred Moosally instead decided to attend the United States Naval Academy after speaking with the academy's football coach, Bill Elias.

Fred Moosally graduated in 1966 with a class ranking of 812 out of 868.

Fred Moosally's classmates nicknamed him "Moose" because of his physical presence and his "slap-on-the-back" personality.

In 1971, Fred Moosally returned to the Naval Academy, where he worked in the recruitment and candidate guidance office.

Metcalf later said he thought Fred Moosally did "a terrific job" as skipper of Kidd.

Fred Moosally's supervisor was an Academy football teammate, Rear Admiral Thomas Lynch.

Fred Moosally then requested the command of one of the newly reactivated Iowa-class battleships.

Fred Moosally's request was supported by Metcalf, Rear Admiral "Bud" Flanagan, Rear Admiral Richard Milligan, and Rear Admiral Jeremy Michael Boorda.

On May 23,1988, Fred Moosally took command of Iowa at Norfolk, Virginia.

Reportedly, Fred Moosally favored Iowas missile and engineering systems and deemphasized 16-inch gunnery.

In January 1989 Iowas Master Chief Fire Controlman, Stephen Skelley, and Gunnery Officer, Lieutenant Commander Kenneth Michael Costigan, persuaded Fred Moosally to allow them to experiment with increasing the range of the main guns using "supercharged" powder bags and specially designed shells.

Fred Moosally was led to believe, falsely, that top officials from Naval Sea Systems Command had authorized the experiments.

Meyer complained to Lieutenant Commander Roger John Kissinger, Iowas chief weapons officer, about the proposed experiments, but Kissinger refused to convey the concerns to Fred Moosally or halt the experiments.

Fred Moosally was pleased with the accomplishment, and ensured that news of the record was publicized in the media.

The use of five bags had been directed by Skelley and was against regulations but Fred Moosally was not aware of the unauthorized nature of the drill.

Fred Moosally now ordered Turret Two to load and fire a three-gun salvo.

In June 1989, Iowa, under Fred Moosally's command, departed for a training cruise and operational deployment to Europe and the Mediterranean.

Milligan found that, under Fred Moosally, Iowa was operating with severe training and safety deficiencies.

Milligan had recommended that Fred Moosally be relieved of command, but Donnell had decided on a lesser punishment.

Two weeks later, a panel of 13 Navy admirals recommended that Fred Moosally be given another major command, stating that Fred Moosally was "superbly fit" for such responsibility.

At a press conference the same day, according to Thompson, Fred Moosally explained that his comments criticizing his crew had been taken out of context by the news media.

The weekend before his appearance in front of the committee, Fred Moosally prepared his remarks at his home in Oakton, Virginia.

Rumors were spreading throughout the top ranks of the Navy that Fred Moosally was angry about Milligan's investigation and was contemplating attacking the Navy's findings before the SASC.

Fred Moosally added that his disparaging remarks about the quality of his crew had been misunderstood.

Captain Fred Moosally retired from the Navy at that rank in May 1990.

At his change of command ceremony on Iowa on May 4,1990, Fred Moosally criticized the Navy for mismanaging the investigation into the turret explosion, saying that the investigators were "people who, in their rush to manage the Iowa problem, forgot about doing the right thing for the Iowa crew".

Fred Moosally was shunned or ignored by many of the former crewmen present, who were still angry over his disparaging comments about them during the investigation.

The book was extremely critical of Fred Moosally, depicting him as an inept officer who gained command of the battleship through political connections.

In 1997, Fred Moosally began working for Lockheed Martin in the Washington, DC, area while living in Oakton.

On May 17,2007, Fred Moosally testified before the United States House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Border, Maritime and Global Counterterrorism concerning the DHS' report's findings.

Fred Moosally stated that Lockheed had either met the contracted requirements or had immediately notified the USCG when issues arose.

Fred Moosally added that any other discrepancies were minor and did not affect the safety, reliability, or effectiveness of the systems in question.

DeKort criticized Fred Moosally's testimony, calling it "not correct" in that it had misrepresented the true nature of the issues.