Club Apologizes for Sending Strippers to Greet Navy Ships

SAN DIEGO —  The manager of a strip club apologized Wednesday for sending his dancers out on two yachts to welcome Navy sailors returning from a six-month deployment aboard several ships.

Angry Navy officials, still smarting from the Tailhook sex scandal, denounced the performance, saying it was especially inappropriate because more than 100 children were aboard the ships at the time.

One of the ships, the Kitty Hawk, was outside its dock at North Island Naval Air Station on Monday when the yachts carrying about a dozen women from the Deja Vu nightclub sailed near. Some of the women removed bathing suit tops, and others removed all their clothing.

More than 3,000 sailors were aboard, and many cheered as the women removed clothes, danced and waved. But the performance upset others, including Capt. James Maslowski, who called it “totally inappropriate.”

The children on board, some as young as 8, were taking part in the Navy’s “Tiger Cruise” program, which allows the sons and fathers of sailors to join them aboard ships.

The Navy did not have any role in sponsoring or soliciting the performance, Chief Petty Officer Patricia Neal said.

Last month, the Pentagon issued a report on the Tailhook Assn. gathering, implicating 117 officers for sexual misdeeds or conduct unbecoming an officer. An investigation found that 83 women and seven men were assaulted during the convention of naval aviators and supporters.