Grounding of USS Connecticut
On September 30, 1906, Swift was given command of the battleship Connecticut (BB-18), then the largest warship in the fleet, on her maiden voyage. The ship sailed on its first mission to Cuba in January 1907, but was immediately recalled to New York after an outbreak of typhoid fever among the crew. Immediately after setting out again, the Connecticut ran aground at Culebra, Puerto Rico.
According to the Washington Post, Swift acted against the advice of his navigator and ordered the ship to pass on the wrong side of a navigational buoy and caused it to strike a shoal. (Also according to the Post, he claimed that the "sun was in his eyes".) He was court martialed on March 26, 1907, and found guilty of dereliction of duty. He was suspended from duty for a year, later remitted to nine months, but was allowed to return to shore duty after six months. He was subsequently appointed as Commandant of the Charlestown Navy Yard near Boston, Massachusetts on November 8, 1907.
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