YOKOSUKA NAVAL BASE, Japan — The command master chief of the 7th Fleet’s USS Milius guided-missile destroyer was relieved of duty on Friday for “misconduct,” the Navy said.

Task Force 70 commander Rear Adm. Karl Thomas removed Master Chief Petty Officer Jason Pick “due to misconduct identified during an ongoing investigation,” said Task Force 70 spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Matt Knight.

Knight did not reveal the nature of the misconduct nor did he give details about the investigation. He said Pick has been reassigned temporarily to Destroyer Squadron 15.

As command master chief, Pick served as the highest-ranked enlisted leader on the Milius.

Pick began his career in 1997 as a flight-deck plane handler on the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson, later climbing the ranks while serving on the carriers USS Lincoln, USS Constellation and USS Nimitz. Prior to joining the Milius in 2016, Pick spent four years aboard the carrier USS Ronald Reagan, where he earned the rank of master chief, according to the Navy.

The Milius came to Yokosuka Naval Base this summer from its previous homeport of San Diego. The ship’s repositioning helped fill a gap in destroyers in the Pacific after two 7th Fleet destroyers — the USS Fitzgerald and the USS McCain — were damaged severely in separate, deadly crashes in 2017.

doornbos.caitlin@stripes.com@CaitlinDoornbos

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