Senior enlisted sailor at Pearl Harbor shipyard relieved of duty

The senior enlisted member of the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility was relieved of his duties on suspicion of driving under the influence and running into a fence on base late Friday night or early Saturday morning, the Navy said. 

Command Master Chief Jeff VanBlaracum was relieved Saturday by following VanBlaracum’s arrest by Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam base police, according to the Navy. 

At the time of the arrest, VanBlaracum was in the process of turning over his role as command master chief, the Navy said.

"The process is going to continue as far as Master Chief VanBlaracum goes, but for the sake of just good leadership continuity, so there’s no disruption at the command, this (replacing VanBlaracum) helps just make the transition," said shipyard spokesman Sean Hughes.

Hughes said he did not have information about VanBlaracum’s blood alcohol level. 

James Schneider became the shipyard’s command master chief early Saturday morning, the Navy said. 

VanBlaracum assumed his duties shipyard command master chief in April 2012. He has been temporarily assigned to another office at the shipyard pending adjudication of the case.