amphibs-skipper-xo-fired-after-engineering-incidents

Not sure what the incidents were, but it brings to mind a portion of the book "Its Your Ship" where the skipper was told by a "lowly seaman engineer" that there was an issue in the engine room that could cause a major fire. When the skipper reported it up, the other ships of the same class pshawed him. When he got to port, the Adm inspected the issue, found the concern valid, and berated the skippers that were just going to ignore it.
Could it be that there was a serious issue w/ equipment & the skipper & xo were willfully ignoring it?