A group of Navy sailors secretly used Starlink to check sports scores, social media and watch movies. They hid it from rank-and-file.

A U.S. Navy chief who wanted the internet so she and other enlisted officers could scroll social media, check sports scores and watch movies while deployed had an unauthorized Starlink satellite dish installed on a warship and lied to her commanding officer to keep it secret, according to investigators.

Internet access is restricted while a ship is underway to maintain bandwidth for military operations and to protect against cybersecurity threats.

The Navy quietly relieved Grisel Marrero, a command senior chief of the littoral combat ship USS Manchester, in August or September 2023, and released information on parts of the investigation this week.

    • mosiacmango@lemm.eeEnglish
      6·
      2 months ago

      Yes, they all have drinking fountains. Absolutely no one at all calls them scuttlebutts though.

      • JustAnotherKay@lemmy.worldEnglish
        72·
        2 months ago

        Scuttlebutt in this case refers to gossip, which is also why the water fountains are called scuttlebutt - people would gossip around them

        • teft@lemmy.worldEnglish
          9·
          2 months ago

          Other way round. Scuttlebutt was the name for the casks of freshwater and then for the fountain. Sometime between those two eras it came to be the word for gossip because of the association with gossip being told around the scuttlebutt.

        • mosiacmango@lemm.eeEnglish
          3·
          2 months ago

          The commentator asked if ships had “a scuttlebutt” anymore. Im well aware it’s the term for gossip, but since gossip isn’t an object, I assumed they asking about the drinking fountains.

          Ships do still have them.

          • JustAnotherKay@lemmy.worldEnglish
            21·
            2 months ago

            Oh I’m not trying to correct you I just have less than 0 social awareness and saw a word with a funny history so I shared my knowledge on it lol

            • mosiacmango@lemm.eeEnglish
              2·
              2 months ago

              No problem mate. Text can be a bit opaque at times, but it’s still a joy to be able to talk to so many people about so many things.