The 2002 edition of US Navy Regulations states: “The responsibility of the commanding officer for his or her command is absolute.” A captain may hand authority to subordinates. But the regulations say this “shall in no way relieve the commanding officer of his or her continued responsibility.”
On June 17, 2017, the destroyer USS Fitzgerald collided with a merchant ship. Seven sailors died. In August the Navy relieved the commanding officer, Cmdr. Bryce Benson. The Seventh Fleet cited his “absolute accountability for the safe navigation of Fitzgerald.”