The skipper of a Pearl Harbor-base submarine, who was fired Monday for “;drunkenness,”; had been drinking with a dozen Navy ROTC cadets at a pizza restaurant near Cornell University last week.

It was the commanding officer of Cornell University's NROTC unit who told Pearl Harbor officials about the incident involving Cmdr. Jeff Cima.

On Monday, Cima, commander of the USS Chicago since August, was relieved for “;drunkenness”; and “;conduct unbecoming an officer”; at a captain's mast conducted by Capt. Daryl Caudle, commander of the Pacific Fleet's Submarine Squadron 3.

Cima is the second Pearl Harbor-based submarine skipper to be sacked in six months and the seventh Navy officer to be relieved this year, triple the usual rate of firings.

In October, Cmdr. Doug Sampson, who had commanded the Los Angeles-class submarine USS La Jolla since October 2007, was relieved of duty after leaders lost confidence in his ability to command, the Navy said at the time.

Pearl Harbor officials have refused to talk about Cima's firing, citing privacy issues.

However, Capt. Larry Olsen, professor of naval science and commanding officer of Cornell's NROTC unit, told the Star-Bulletin that Cima was at the Ithaca, N.Y., campus on March 10 to talk about the nuclear power program.

After the talk, Cima and a lieutenant junior grade from the Chicago joined about a dozen Cornell cadets for a pizza and alcoholic drinks, said Olsen, also a submarine officer.

“;The commander and the lieutenant had way too much to drink,”; Olsen said.

As midnight approached, the cadets were unsure what to do.

“;They (the cadets) did the right thing and called my staff lieutenant, who took the two officers back to the hotel,”; Olsen said.

Olsen said the lieutenant reported the incident to him the next day, and he turned the matter over to officials at Pearl Harbor.

Olsen, who commanded the submarine USS Miami from 1996-98, praised the actions of his cadets, saying, “;They did the right thing by not allowing the officers to go off on their own.”;

He described the incident as “;a very unfortunate event”; and said no laws were broken.

U.S. Pacific Fleet Submarine Force spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Dave Benham said the Navy will neither identify the lieutenant who accompanied Cima nor say what kind of punishment he received before a captain's mast Monday, again for privacy reasons.

At Cornell, Olsen said these “;O calls,”; or “;officers calls,”; are held after formal sessions where Navy officers come to the campus two or three times a semester to discuss various career fields open to Navy officers. Generally, he said, he and his wife attend, but they had a conflict last week.

“;But I shouldn't have to be there to police the actions of my cadets,”; he said.

The 9,600-ton Chicago is in dry dock at the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard on a 21-month major maintenance overhaul.