Sailors' Cars Towed for Concert
PHOTO CAPTION: USS Kearsarge returns to Naval Station Norfolk following a deployment in October 2022. Roughly 90 sailors assigned to the ship recently returned from approximately 10 days underway to discover their vehicles had been towed from a base parking area ahead of an MWR concert. (U.S. Navy photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Nathan Beard)
About 90 sailors assigned to USS Kearsarge returned from roughly 10 days at sea expecting to get back into their cars and go home.
Instead, they learned their vehicles had been towed while they were underway.
The reason had nothing to do with security, an emergency or abandoned vehicles.
Naval Station Norfolk needed part of the parking area cleared for a concert.
The unusual situation was first reported Monday by WHRO's American Homefront Project and involved vehicles parked near Pier 14 at the world's largest naval installation.
USS Kearsarge had already been at sea for several days when Naval Station Norfolk hosted an Aug. 29 concert featuring Teddy Swims and Miranda Lambert.
The event was sponsored by the base's Morale, Welfare and Recreation program.
As part of preparations for the concert, parking restrictions were put in place around Pier 14.
But dozens of Kearsarge sailors apparently never got the message before their ship left port.
One sailor's spouse, whom WHRO did not identify because of concerns about the potential effect on her husband's career, said her husband called her from the ship the day after the concert.
He wanted her to check whether his car was still there.
Sailors aboard Kearsarge had begun hearing that their vehicles had been removed while they were at sea.
The spouse went to Naval Station Norfolk.
The cars were gone.
When Kearsarge returned to Norfolk in early September, affected sailors were bused to an MWR impound lot to retrieve their vehicles.
Photos reviewed by WHRO showed sailors standing in a long line.
According to the report, some waited **more than three hours** before getting their cars back.
Naval Station Norfolk says the parking restrictions were not imposed without coordination.
Base spokeswoman Kelly Wirfel told WHRO that personnel had discussed the restrictions with **USS Kearsarge security personnel** before the event and specifically identified areas where vehicles could not remain parked.
She also said barriers had been placed in the affected parking areas.
That explanation leaves an obvious question:
If the restrictions were coordinated with the ship, how did roughly 90 sailors leave their vehicles there before going to sea?
The spouse interviewed by WHRO said the information did not reach the affected sailors — including some senior personnel.
She pointed to one particularly awkward example.
According to her account, **the commanding officer's personal vehicle was among those towed.**
Her argument was straightforward: one or two sailors might miss a sign or ignore a restriction.
Dozens of sailors — and apparently the ship's commanding officer — suggests something larger went wrong in the communication chain.
The sailors were not required to pay money when they retrieved their cars, according to WHRO, although they were reportedly told to keep their receipts.
Each vehicle carried a reported **$180 impound fee**.
Who ultimately covered those fees remains unclear.
The spouse said she had been told the ship's captain paid them, but WHRO was unable to independently establish who ultimately picked up the bill.
That distinction matters.
There is no verified reporting that individual sailors were ultimately forced to pay the $180 fee themselves.
There is also no confirmed evidence that the commanding officer personally paid the entire bill.
What is confirmed is that sailors whose ship was underway returned to find their personal vehicles had been removed as Naval Station Norfolk prepared for the MWR concert.
Kearsarge had been conducting training as the amphibious assault ship prepares for an upcoming deployment.
The Wasp-class ship has spent much of 2026 conducting workups and integration training with Marine units, including amphibious training and F-35B operations. Official Navy imagery and releases show the ship operating in and out of Norfolk throughout the summer.
The Navy's explanation and the crew's experience do not necessarily contradict each other.
The base says the information was provided to Kearsarge security personnel.
Affected sailors say the information never reached them.
Somewhere between those two points, something appears to have broken down.
And that left dozens of sailors returning from days at sea with one more evolution before they could finally go home:
A bus ride to the impound lot to retrieve the cars the Navy had moved while they were gone.
All so the parking area could be cleared for a concert.
(Source: OAF Nation)
