Vice Adm. Phillip Sawyer, commander of the U.S. 7th Fleet, told reporters in Manila that Washington protested that “unprofessional behavior” by the Chinese ship, which maneuvered very close to the guided-missile destroyer Decatur as the latter sailed closely by a Chinese-occupied island in the Spratlys in September.

“No, it’s not going to change where we do our freedom of navigation operations,” Sawyer said when asked if the Sept. 30 incident off Gaven Reef would change such U.S. Navy operations.

Several such sail-bys have been undertaken by American naval ships since that close encounter in the disputed waters, he said.

“It was concerning because the ships got too close,” Sawyer said, adding that U.S. officials have voiced “our displeasure with what we consider to be unprofessional behavior.”

The Decatur had sailed within 12 nautical miles of Gaven Reef when a Chinese destroyer dangerously approached within 45 yards (41 meters) of the bow of the U.S. Navy ship, which changed course to prevent a collision.

The Decatur was also warned to leave the area, U.S. Pacific Fleet officials said at the time.

China said the Luoyang, a Chinese missile destroyer, was deployed to identify the U.S. warship and drive it away near Chinese territory. Beijing protested the Decatur’s action as provocative.

One of seven disputed reefs transformed by China into militarily fortified islands in recent years, Gaven is claimed by China, the Philippines, Vietnam and Taiwan. Malaysia and Brunei also have claims in the South China Sea.

While Washington has no claims to the strategic waterway, it has declared that freedom of navigation and the peaceful resolution of the disputes are in the U.S. national interest.

The U.S. has also questioned China’s expansive claims, bringing it into a collision course with Beijing.

The U.S. Navy will continue freedom of navigation sail-bys and patrols in the South China Sea and elsewhere “until there are no excessive maritime claims throughout the world,” said Sawyer, who spoke onboard the 7th Fleet’s flagship Blue Ridge, which arrived in Manila on Thursday for a visit after sailing through the South China Sea.

China has long been wary of the U.S. military presence in the disputed waterway and has asked Washington not to meddle in a purely Asian dispute.

The U.S. has insisted the routine patrols and exercises it has carried out with allies in the region for more than 70 years has helped foster the regional stability that has allowed many Asian countries to prosper economically.

Sawyer said the Navy’s joint or multilateral exercises with American allies were crucial in the region or elsewhere.

“I encourage bilateral and multilateral exercises, the more the better,” he said.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said during a visit to Manila early this month that the United States is committed to ensuring the South China Sea remains open to all kinds of navigation and that “China does not pose a threat” of closing the disputed sea lanes.

The unidentified lieutenants went before a Field Naval Aviator Evaluation Board, but the Navy declined to disclose the details, citing the administrative nature of the actions.

“The board is convened to evaluate the performance and potential for continued service as an aviator,” Naval Air Forces spokesman Cmdr. Ronald Flanders said Friday. “The Air Boss or any other senior aviator can apply disciplinary measures.”

The aviators of Electronic Attack Squadron 130, known as “The Zappers,” set the internet ablaze last month after local reports emerged of sky-drawn genitals that upset some local residents.

“The Navy holds its aircrew to the highest standards and we find this absolutely unacceptable, of zero training value and we are holding the crew accountable,” the Navy told KREM 2 News.

Navy prosecutors outlined their case in an Article 32 hearing at Naval Station Norfolk against Navy Cmdr. Jason W. Starmer, a former enlisted sailor turned foreign area officer who, at the time of the allegations, was head of operations for the Joint United States Military Advisory Group, Thailand.

Starmer, currently assigned to the Transient Personnel Unit at the Navy Yard in Washington, was charged with graft, patronizing a prostitute, adultery and conduct unbecoming, as well as three specifications of violating a lawful order.

If found guilty on all charges, Starmer could face up to 17 years confinement.

Navy pilot Cmdr. David Morales was also charged in the same Norfolk military court in June on similar charges and is awaiting court-martial, though no date has been set.

Francis was arrested in 2013 and pleaded guilty in January 2015 to bribery, conspiracy to commit bribery and conspiracy to defraud the United States. He is cooperating with U.S. officials as they prosecute military and GDMA officials. Francis has not yet been sentenced.

The Navy’s case against Starmer charges that the officer accepted gifts in the form of meals, liquor and prostitutes purchased by Francis on several occasions, both in Singapore and in Thailand.

The Navy contends that Starmer then lied to investigators about the events.

The Navy’s case contends that Starmer was fully aware of receiving the gifts that represented payment for past, current and future favors in steering Navy contracts for ship services to GDMA.

Naval Criminal Investigative Service Special Agent Jill Kelly testified in the case. She was the only witness called by either side in the hearing.

She testified that on the night of Sept. 6, 2012, Starmer met Francis in a Singapore gentlemen’s club, where Francis picked up a tab somewhere in the neighborhood of $3,000 for a crowd that included not only Starmer, but other U.S. and GDMA officials.

Navy prosecutors don’t know what part of that total was reserved for Starmer, but they say it’s logical to assume his portion was over $20, the gift limit any U.S. government official can accept.

Kelly said that such events were part of Francis’s “grooming” of Navy officers, when he would give gifts and exchange contact information in an effort to help him overcharge for services provided when U.S. ships hit Asian ports.

Kelly said the evidence shows that Starmer, in his job at the U.S. Military Advisory Group-Thailand, advocated for Francis and his company after a visit by the aircraft carrier Nimitz to Phuket, Thailand, in 2013.

During that visit, a taxi strike kept liberty buses taking sailors to and from town from operating on schedule, resulting in sailors failing to get to the ship on time. The incident angered the then-7th Fleet commander. As a result, contracting officials were threatening not to pay GDMA.

In heated email exchanges, Starmer suggested that officials needed to “cool down,” which the prosecution claims amounted to advocacy for Francis’s company.

That “advocacy” came just a month after Starmer visited Singapore and again met with Francis. Once again, Francis picked up the tab, the prosecution contends, and also included a prostitute for Starmer.

Kelly said that Starmer, in interviews with investigators, admitted to having sex with the woman, but denied knowing she was a prostitute.

“Well, I never saw any money change hands, there was never any talk of prostitutes or mention of money, but shame on me,” Kelly read from Starmer‘s testimony.

Starmer’s attorney, Coast Guard Lt. Robert Canoy, asked Kelly if Starmer was ever actually asked by the investigators if he’d had sex with a prostitute. After reviewing her notes, Kelly said that he had not.

Canoy then told the preliminary hearing officer, Cmdr. Anthony Johnson, that he felt there weren’t sufficient grounds for the charge and that it should be dropped.

But Kelly also outlined text messages that the prosecution says prove that Starmer knew the women provided by Francis were in fact prostitutes.

Kelly said the text messages from Francis’s phone, seized by the government, show that on April 3, 2013, Francis again sent a prostitute to Starmer’s hotel room.

In a text to Francis discussing the previous night, Starmer wrote, “Not very good, she wasn’t very good, wouldn’t [give oral sex], on the phone all night, other than that it was ok.”

Kelly then testified that Francis sent a text to a woman who organized scheduling for the prostitutes — known as “Mama Pat” — who told him to only pay $800 dollars for the evening based on feedback from “Jason.”

In return for these favors, the prosecution contends that Starmer acted as a “sounding board” to whom Francis could complain about Navy officials.

The defense contends that Starmer did not tip off Francis, and instead notified NCIS of potential issues with invoices Francis submitted for payment, which were never fully investigated.

It will be up to Johnson to decide whether any or all of the charges should be carried out. He’ll forward those recommendations to Adm. Phil Davidson, the convening authority for the prosecution.

On average, the quality of military health care was found to be as good or better than some of the top civilian healthcare systems in the country, Faison said.

Medical malpractice claims typically come from military dependents. Active-duty service members are legally blocked from lodging malpractice claims or suing the military for any reason under a longstanding legal barrier known as the Feres Doctrine.

Headed by Faison, the Navy’s medical organization is vast, operating two Medical Centers and 16 other hospitals worldwide. In the continental United States alone there are the two largest medical centers and nine other base hospitals

Navy Medicine is the single largest employer in the Navy with roughly 60,000 military and civilians on the job, today. The enlisted Navy Hospital Corps is 25,000 strong and stands as largest enlisted community in the service.

His organization provides services to the Marine Corps as well.

Faison said he’s far from declaring victory, yet he’s pleased with the improvement process underway. Faison believes the decline in malpractice claims has come from a direct effort by Navy Medicine to learn from mistakes and spread those lessons force-wide, so they won’t happen again.

“We’ll go in and we’ll do an analysis of what happened and we’ll report that up to the Joint Commission,” Faison said.

The Joint Commission is an independent, non-profit organization which accredits and certifies nearly 21,000 health care organizations and programs across the United States.

Faison said that only about 15 percent of U.S. health care institutions report what he calls “adverse outcomes” to the joint commission.

“We do with 100 percent of our adverse outcomes that qualify,” he said, though he didn’t specify what qualifies and what does not.

Still, he says it’s how they approach this root cause evaluation that’s different in how the Navy deals with these adverse outcomes today.

Their technique was borrowed, Faison said, from Alcoa Aluminum and how they approach safety incidents.

“Molten aluminum is an inherently risky business,” Faison said. “They have safety accidents as well, but Alcoa has one tenth the safety accidents of anybody else in that industry.”

He said they approach any incident head on and immediately, while things are fresh in everyone’s minds.

“When there a safety incident, they do what’s called a swarm,” Faison said. “They bring together everybody that is even remotely involved in that accident within an hour and they sit down and they scrub it — they look at what could have been done better and what went wrong.”

Within 12 hours of the accident, he said, a report goes up to the chief officer of that particular plant. Within 24 hours, a report goes forward to Alcoa headquarters for review.

“Ultimately, within a day, what happened is written up and pushed out across the corporation so that everybody learns quickly from other peoples’ outcomes and experiences,” Faison said. “We’ve adopted that into Navy medicine. So now, if there’s an adverse outcome we do a swarm and we get the word out very quickly. That’s part of our commitment to provide the best care our nation can offer.”