A Hawai'i-based naval officer who was scheduled to take command of the guided missile destroyer USS Chafee last Friday was instead removed from command and has been assigned to a desk job, officials said.

Capt. Richard L. Clemmons Jr., commander of Destroyer Squadron 31, decided that the former executive officer of the Chafee, Cmdr. Larry Gonzales, should be "detached for cause," according to a Navy release sent out yesterday.

Gonzales' removal occurred on the same day he was supposed to take command of the Chafee, which is home-ported at Pearl Harbor.

Navy Region Hawai'i, the command based at Pearl Harbor, said in the release that "based on findings from a (command) investigation, the chain of command has lost confidence in Gonzales's ability to lead and command."

The Navy did not explain the reasons for the removal. Gonzales stepped down as executive officer of the Chafee on Nov. 5 in anticipation of assuming the ship's command, officials said. He had been the second-in-command since January.

Agnes Tauyan, a spokeswoman for Navy Region Hawai'i, said the action taken against Gonzales was not related to ship operations.

"What I'm told is there is no safety or security issue underlying this action," Tauyan said. "There are administrative actions still pending that I'm not able to get into too much detail on."

Gonzales is at least the third Pearl Harbor ship officer to be relieved of duty in less than a year.

Capt. John Carroll was relieved as commander of the USS Port Royal after the guided missile cruiser ran aground in 14 to 22 feet of water off Honolulu Airport's reef runway on Feb. 5.

On Oct. 30, Cmdr. Doug Sampson was removed as skipper of the nuclear attack submarine USS La Jolla when senior leaders lost confidence in his ability to command.

The U.S. Pacific Fleet submarine force said at the time that in-port planning, operations and administration on the La Jolla, which was in the shipyard for months of repairs, fell short of high Navy standards, and that Sampson's leadership of the crew was "inadequate."

Gonzales, a native of San Jose, Calif., graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy and was commissioned in 1992.

The incumbent commanding officer on the Chafee, Cmdr. Heedong Choi, will retain command until the arrival of his new relief and change of command, anticipated in early spring.

Gonzales' relief as executive officer is already aboard the Chafee. Gonzales is being temporarily reassigned to a shore command pending further administrative actions, the Navy said.

According to the naval inspector general's office, "detachment for cause" is the administrative removal of an officer from his or her current duty assignment before the planned rotation date.

The need for such an action arises "when an officer's performance or conduct detracts from accomplishing the command mission and the officer's continuance in the billet can only negatively impact the command," according to the inspector general's office.

A detachment for cause is one of the strongest administrative measures used in the case of officers. An approved detachment is filed in the officer's official record and has a serious effect on the officer's future naval career.

The 509-foot destroyer Chafee, with a crew of more than 300, returned Aug. 24 from a six-month deployment to the western Pacific.

During the deployment, Chafee traveled more than 30,000 nautical miles, performed 46 evolutions of boat operations and 110 helicopter flight sortie operations.

Chafee participated in the exercises Foal Eagle 2009, Malabar 2009 and Cooperation and Readiness Afloat Training (CARAT) 2009.