Then-Cmdr. Danielle DeFant salutes at a change of command ceremony in San Diego, Calif., Dec. 1, 2017. Defant, now a captain, was relieved of command of the cruiser USS Lake Erie in October 2023. A Navy investigation report determined that DeFant had bullied her crew and created a toxic command climate. (Jailene Casso/U.S. Navy)
A Navy captain relieved of command of a San Diego-based cruiser last year battered and bullied sailors while creating a culture of fear through temper tantrums and public humiliation, according to a service investigation.
Capt. Danielle DeFant’s toxic leadership aboard USS Lake Erie put the ship’s crew at higher risk of an accident, investigators concluded in an Oct. 2, 2023, command report.
A copy of the report was first obtained and posted online by San Diego’s KPBS through a Freedom of Information Act request.
DeFant made some sailors feel as if they were “walking on eggshells” and caused many of the nearly 50 officers assigned to the ship’s wardroom to fear giving her bad news, according to the report.
“There is clear evidence that Captain DeFant’s recurrent, counterproductive behaviors have had adverse effects on subordinates and the command, and have had destructive effects on her crew,” the report stated.
DeFant, whose Navy career spans more than 30 years, was fired Oct. 12. She subsequently was transferred to commander, Naval Surface Force, Pacific Fleet.
Such headquarters reassignments are common while the Navy determines whether an officer relieved of duty for loss of confidence in their ability to command will remain in the service.
DeFant was fired 10 days after the 25-page investigation report was sent to Rear Adm. Christopher Alexander, commander of Carrier Strike Group 9.
The report, which examines DeFant’s leadership after taking command of Lake Erie in July 2022, investigated complaints of toxic command culture and sexual discrimination. It included summaries of interviews with DeFant and at least 45 officers and other sailors.
The report did not find evidence to substantiate the allegation of sexual discrimination.
However, investigators concluded that DeFant’s repeated targeting of two officers on Lake Erie violated the service’s rules on bullying, the report states.
DeFant also likely violated the Uniform Code of Military Justice when she grabbed a bridge officer by the collar and admonished him for speaking out of turn, investigators found.
The names of the witnesses and other crew members were redacted in the report.
Other sailors reported being hit, roughly pushed or nudged by DeFant. The captain characterized some of those encounters as an effort to get a sailor’s attention or correct them.
But investigators found that while sometimes DeFant’s corrections were warranted, they were often excessive and unprofessional.
They also determined that she appeared to mostly target junior officers and department heads, often screaming, berating and humiliating them in front of their subordinates when she was displeased.
During her first address to the combined wardroom and Chief’s Mess, the colloquial names for groups of officers and chief petty officers, one witness said that DeFant “came in hot … she was screaming … she was yelling what her expectations were to the team” and that “the whole team was in shock.”
Later into her two years of command, DeFant told an officer that “…‘when I say I’m tired of this problem, I’m really saying I’m tired of you’ or words to that effect,” the report states.
She told another sailor they were “useless” and in November 2022 smacked the collarbone of a conning officer who couldn’t hear a helmsman speaking, telling the sailor to “pay attention,” according to the report.
In another instance, DeFant berated a junior officer on the bridge for pointing out dolphins swimming near the ship.
During a debriefing in the ship’s pilot house following engineering casualties while Lake Erie was underway in November 2022, DeFant yelled at and insulted sailors as they offered their assessments, the report states. She then shut down the meeting, using profanity in telling everyone to get off the bridge.
Later, DeFant cleared a wardroom meeting about the same incident and reminded two sailors of their positions in the command.
“I run the ship, and (the executive officer) runs the ship with me, you don’t run the ship,” according to the report. DeFant also told the sailors they had better learn that lesson if they intended to continue in the Navy.
DeFant admitted she was angry and yelled during the debriefing after learning about the scope of the engineering problem.
She also admitted to sometimes yelling at people in cases where she had to repeat herself, and said she didn’t always follow the practice of praising in public and reprimanding in private.
Defant stated that most of the crew was comfortable with giving her bad news, while acknowledging that some, particularly junior officers, were not.
But investigators found that DeFant’s behavior eroded the confidence of her crew.
One sailor “stated he would not want to go to war with (DeFant) because you never knew what you would get.”
