Admiral tapped for top US Navy job resigns over inappropriate professional relationship

A US admiral, who had been tapped to take over as the country’s top naval official, has resigned after controversy arising from alleged poor judgment on his part.

Vice Admiral William Moran was set to become the United States’ chief of naval operations, CNN reported on Monday.

Moran stepped down, though, after Secretary of the Navy Richard Spencer called his judgment into doubt over his continued “professional relationship” with another naval official, who has been held accountable for “sexual misconduct.”

Spencer named the official, with whom Moran would keep in touch, as Chris Servello, former Navy public affairs official.

The contact reportedly took place over the past several years.

Moran, however, said his decision to maintain the relationship “was in no way an endorsement or tacit approval of this kind of conduct."

He also spurned Servello’s behavior, saying, "Every Sailor is entitled to serve in an environment free of harassment or intimidation."

This is not the first time American naval personnel become embroiled in incidents surrounding physical inappropriacy.

Last May, leaders of a US Navy SEAL team deployed to Africa were suspended over allegations of sexual misconduct.

In 2015, a Navy sailor came under investigation over his alleged filming of some female officers inside their bathroom aboard the USS John Stennis aircraft carrier.