A US Navy submarine commander was relieved of his duties after he was found guilty of hiring prostitutes while his vessel was docked in the Philippines.
According to the US Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS), on March 1, 2018, Captain Travis Zettel, commander of the USS Bremerton, told two sailors that he had asked 10 girls to go to his hotel. The vessel was docked in Subic Bay in the Philippines, Kitsap Sun reported.
One of the sailors told the NCIS that he saw Zettel accompanied by 10 “provocatively dressed females” near a hotel.
In May, almost a month after the vessel arrived in Bremerton, Washington, in the United States, the NCIS launched a criminal probe and confronted Zettel with the allegations. Zettel admitted he was guilty of paying for “female accompaniment.”
Another sailor from Zettel’s crew was also suspected of having paid prostitutes after being seen with three local females holding onto his arm and wandering around the city. However, he denied the allegations and was found innocent and did not suffer disciplinary action.