The World - News from Nov. 20, 1988

The commander of the U.S. guided missile destroyer Towers, Cmdr. Frederick H. Michaelis, has been relieved of his post, a U.S. Navy spokesman said. The action follows an incident earlier this month in which the warship fired a number of dummy missiles that landed near a Japanese Maritime Safety Agency boat off the tip of the Boso Peninsula. No one was injured and no property was damaged in the Nov. 9 incident. “I would not deny nor confirm the relation between relieving the commanding officer and the incident,” the spokesman said. Adm. Huntington Hardisty, the commander of the U.S. forces in the Pacific, apologized to Prime Minister Noboru Takeshita and Foreign Minister Sosuke Uno for the incident.