U.S. Navy Captain, Holly Graf, was relieved of her command early in January this year. Reports show that she was reprimanded on Jan. 13th by Rear Admiral Kevin Donegan for “creulty and maltreatment” of her crew aboard the Cowpens.

It was unclear if the reprimand had anything about the race that Graf conducted between the guided missile cruiser Cowpens and the destroyer John McCain. Which at one point almost resulted in a collision between the 2 ships. Transfer within a month is normal, but in this case Donegan ordered the transfer effective immediately.

The reprimand stems from an investigation into complaints that she was vulgar and often mistreated and verbally abused the crew in front of other crew members. She was known to have no scruples with the f-bomb, and didn’t mind who was observing the maltreatment. One time reprimanding a highly respected senior bridge officer like a 5 year old child in front of the bridge crew.

Graf was the first woman to command such a ship, and denies any recollection of the statements levied against her in the IG’s report. She also stated that she would raise her voice on occasions to pressurize a situation or to emphasize that “I was not kidding.”