U.S. Navy officer demoted after installing Starlink satellite dish on warship to access internet

A U.S. Navy chief who wanted the internet so she and other enlisted officers could scroll social media, check sports scores and watch movies while deployed had an unauthorized Starlink satellite dish installed on a warship and lied to her commanding officer to keep it secret, according to investigators.

Internet access is restricted while a ship is underway to maintain bandwidth for military operations and to protect against cybersecurity threats.

The Navy quietly relieved Grisel Marrero, a command senior chief of the littoral combat ship USS Manchester, in August or September 2023, and released information on parts of the investigation this week.

The Navy Times was first to report on the details.

Marrero, a former information systems technician, and senior leaders paid US$2,800 for the Starlink High Performance Kit and had it installed in April 2023 prior to deployment of the San Diego-based Manchester, according to the investigation.

She and more than a dozen other chief petty officers used it to send messages home and keep up with the news and bought signal amplifiers during a stop in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, after they realized the wireless signal did not cover all areas of the ship, according to the investigation.

Those involved also used the Chief Petty Officer Association’s debit card to pay off the $1,000 monthly Starlink bill.

The network was not shared with rank-and-file sailors.

Marrero tried to hide the network, which she called “Stinky,” by renaming it as a printer, denying its existence and even intercepting a comment about the network left in the commanding officer’s suggestion box, according to the investigation.

Marrero did not respond to an AP email Friday seeking comment.

In March she was convicted at a court-martial where she pleaded guilty to dereliction of duty and providing false official statements to commanders, the Navy Times reported. She was demoted to a chief petty officer after trial.

Marrero was relieved “due to a loss of confidence in her leadership abilities,” said spokesperson Cmdr. Cindy Fields said via email.

“Navy senior enlisted leaders … are expected to uphold the highest standards of responsibility, reliability and leadership, and the Navy holds them accountable when they fall short of those standards,” Fields said.

Last week a commander of the destroyer USS John McCain was relieved of duty after he was seen in a photo firing a rifle with a scope mounted backward. The image brought the Navy considerable ridicule on social media.