A U.S. Navy official was relieved of her duties and demoted, after having an unauthorized Starlink High Performance satellite dish installed on a warship and lying about it to her commanding officer.
Grisel Marrero, a command senior chief of the littoral combat ship USS Manchester, was demoted in either August or September 2023.
Information on her dismissal and the investigation that led to it were only released this week to the Navy Times.
Marrero reportedly wanted the dish so she and other enlisted officers could better access social media, online content and sports scores.
Navy investigators learned Marrero lied to her superior officer about the dish, which she nicknamed “Stinky,” when asked about it. She also disguised the network by renaming it as a printer.
Naval officers have restricted internet access while at sea, in order to maintain bandwidth for military operations and to guard against cybersecurity breaches.
Marrero worked as an information systems technician aboard the Manchester.
The dish cost $2,800 and was fitted to the warship in April 2023.
Rank-and-file sailors were not provided access to the network.
Marrero was convicted in March at a court-martial proceeding. She pleaded guilty to dereliction of duty and providing false official statements to commanders, and sentenced to a reduction in rank.
