A military judge ruled the former skipper of the destroyer USS Kinkaid was not criminally liable for a collision with a merchant vessel that killed one crewman and injured five others.
After an eight-day court-martial, the judge, Capt. Richard Reed, on Wednesday acquitted Cmdr. John Cochrane of negligence and dereliction of duty in the Nov. 12 accident off the Malay Peninsula.Cochrane had faced up to two years' confinement and dismissal from the Navy.
The 44-year-old officer, who had been stripped of his command one week after the accident, smiled and embraced his attorneys.
"I'm not bitter. I love the United States Navy," he said.
The judge noted that a Navy skipper's duty to see to the safe navigation of his ship and well-being of his crew differs from criminal liability, which demands proof beyond a reasonable doubt.
The Kinkaid and the Panamanian merchant ship Kota Petani collided in the dark when the destroyer was on the wrong side of the heavily traveled Strait of Malacca, 240 miles southwest of Singapore.