The Navy removed the three senior leaders aboard USS South Dakota last month after a reported grounding. Congress learned about it when a reporter started asking questions.

That leaves the Navy with two matters to explain: what happened aboard a nuclear-powered attack submarine, and why the people responsible for overseeing the service were left waiting for answers.

Cmdr. Daniel Goodwin, the commanding officer; Jacqueline Penichet, the executive officer; and Jon Nogaj, the chief of the boat and the submarine’s senior enlisted leader, were relieved Oct. 14, according to a letter Reps. Joe Courtney, D-Conn., and Adam Smith, D-Wash. A defense official confirmed the three removals to USNI News. A source familiar with the incident told the outlet the submarine’s rudder had experienced a “soft grounding.”

The Navy confirmed Goodwin’s dismissal to the press, citing “loss of confidence.” That familiar phrase explains the personnel decision about as well as a warning light explains a broken engine.

According to The Maritime Executive, the Navy’s statement did not confirm either the grounding or the removal of the other two leaders.

Those distinctions matter. The circumstances of the reported grounding remain unresolved publicly. Readers should not have to mistake an anonymously sourced account for a completed investigation.

But the congressional complaint is on the record.

Courtney, the senior Democrat on the House seapower subcommittee, and Smith, the senior Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, said their committee had received no notification of the dismissals or the underlying incident nearly a month afterward.

“The Department of the Navy’s failure to communicate these incidents to Congress is unacceptable,” they wrote.

Their letter acknowledges that these notifications follow an established practice rather than an explicit statutory requirement. Congress had relied on the Navy to keep it informed in good faith.

Now the lawmakers want answers by Nov. 20: What happened? Were the dismissals connected to a grounding? Was anyone injured? What damage occurred, what would repairs cost, and how long might they take?

They also want to know why Congress was not notified.

Those are basic questions about sailors’ safety and the condition of a warship paid for by the public.

Submarine operations demand secrecy. Explaining why a command team was removed requires care. Neither consideration relieves Navy leadership of its responsibility to provide Congress with an accounting through the appropriate channels.

If failures aboard South Dakota justified removing all three senior leaders, the Navy owes an explanation of those failures and what it is doing to prevent a repeat.