Secret ‘STINKY’ Starlink Wi-Fi exposed on US warship, Navy official busted

A senior United States Naval officer and other officers on a United States warship have been punished for installing a Starlink network onboard an active warship.

Disguised by the name “STINKY” while in operation, the WiFi connection was used exclusively by a small cabal of officers while away from the port, something the general crew was not privy to.

Following the installation discovery, the senior officer and co-conspirators were duly court-martialed, and the ring leader, Senior Petty Officer Grisel Marrero, was demoted. Naval charge sheets released on May 29 show that Marrero was found guilty of dereliction of duty and falsifying records to hide her activities.

According to these documents, she covered a private credit card’s initial installation cost (around $2,800). She was the network administrator and maintained sole authority over access to it.

Other officers who used the network then paid for access and were complicit in keeping it a secret from superior Navy officers. According to the Naval Times , which initially broke the story, the Starlink system was installed during the USS Manchester (a littoral combat ship) “blanket aloft” period.

“STINKY” Starlink

During this time, responsibilities were not recorded in the deck logs or the officer of the deck logs, as per the investigation. However, the released documents were redacted and did not disclose who actually installed the system.

Interestingly, the United States Navy was also reported as considering installing Starlink on its ships for faster internet connection. However, that does not defend the ship’s officers’ actions on this occasion.

“This agreement was a criminal conspiracy, supported by the overt act of bringing the purchased Starlink onboard USS MANCHESTER,” the official investigation explained. “Any new member of the CPO Mess which then paid into the services joined that conspiracy following the system’s operational status,” it added.

“The installation and usage of Starlink, without the approval of higher headquarters, poses a serious risk to mission, operational security, and information security,” the investigation explained.

According to the Navy Times , when junior sailors and commanding officers began noticing the WiFi network, Marrero denied its existence. Marrero’s charge sheet stated that she had lied to her commanding officer on at least three occasions from July to August 2023, falsely claiming that there was no WiFi onboard each time.

Following this, Marrero changed the name of the network to make it appear to be a wireless printer. Of course, this printer never existed in reality.

She later fessed up

The Starlink receiver was eventually discovered by civilian contractors tasked with installing a separate authorized satellite telecommunications system. In light of this, Marrero is reported as texting “the gig is up” to her co-conspirators.

After being confronted, she and the other chiefs attempted to remove the dish. They then informed commanders that they only used it while in port. Marrero’s charge sheet also stated that she altered data usage records for the Starlink account.

Marrero informed her commanding officer on August 26, 2023, that she had installed the unauthorized WiFi network. Court records indicate that Marrero pleaded guilty to two counts of dereliction of duty and was found guilty of one count of obstruction of justice, despite pleading not guilty.