[Ed. note: This piece has been re-published with permission from WECT, a media partner of Port City Daily, which originally reported the story from Connor Smith.]
WILMINGTON — The executive director of the U.S.S. Battleship North Carolina illegally recorded conversations, falsified timekeeping records and retaliated against his assistant director, according to a new lawsuit filed in New Hanover County Superior Court on Tuesday.
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Christopher Vargo, who worked for the Battleship Memorial for 12 years before his termination in January, filed the lawsuit. It names the Battleship Commission, Executive Director Jay Martin and the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, which oversees the commission. The suit seeks compensatory damages of more than $25,000, the reinstatement of Vargo’s position and the removal of Martin from his position as executive director.
“The Battleship North Carolina has been a treasure to the whole state,” Vargo told WECT in a Zoom interview. “It’s so important to have people with integrity, transparency, ethics and who will follow the law. If that’s not going to happen, then someone needs to stand up and call it out. And that’s what we’re doing.”
Multiple requests for comment from Martin and the Battleship weren’t returned. A spokesperson for the state Department of Natural and Cultural Resources said they can’t comment on active litigation.
The 18-page lawsuit contends, among other allegations, that Vargo was fired Jan. 24 for complaining about Martin’s alleged misconduct. It also alleges violations of the federal Whistleblower Protection Act.
The goal of the lawsuit is transparency and accountability, Vargo said.
“No public employee should fear speaking out against something that is either questionable, or clearly illegal or unethical,” Vargo said. “And that’s what happened. I spoke up. And I was let go because of it.”
Martin was named the Battleship’s new director last May. On “several occasions” last summer, Martin instructed Vargo to enter that he worked 60-70 hours per week, according to the suit. Martin, though, was not on site at the Battleship during those weeks, the lawsuit says, making Vargo believe the director was not working during that time.
During that period, Martin had “substantial responsibilities” as a professor at Central Michigan University, rendering his overtime claims false, the complaint says. After telling Martin he was uncomfortable entering the overtime, Vargo lost access to the director’s time entries. Martin expressed concern to Battleship Commission members in August 2024 and January 2025 about the timekeeping, according to the lawsuit.
Issues with the Battleship’s “Living with Water” Project – which hopes to protect the ship and its parking lot from tidal flooding – caused further strain between Vargo and Martin, the lawsuit said. The project ran late and over budget, leading Martin to ask the Battleship Commission for more funding, according to the suit. The director was then “determined” to blame the issues on Vargo, though the lawsuit says he didn’t have any authority to prevent the issues from happening.
On Dec. 10, Martin used a digital voice recorder to unlawfully record a conversation – without consent of either party – between Vargo and Battleship contractors working on the project, the lawsuit alleges, violating state and federal wiretapping laws.
Martin left during a meeting on the progress of the project, leaving the recorder behind on his chair, according to the suit. The device recorded a “lengthy conversation” between Vargo and an employee of the Moffat & Nichol engineering firm, which was under contract for the project.
The employee found the recorder and reported it to Vargo, who then reported it to Commission members and Department of Natural and Cultural Resources attorneys, the suit says. The attorneys then told Vargo the recording was “insignificant” and Martin was “embarrassed by his mistake,” the lawsuit reads.
Vargo said DNCR attorneys, the Commission and Martin all pushed the recording “under the rug.”
“The specific response was ‘there was more smoke than fire,‘” he recalled.
The lawsuit requests – in addition to the compensatory damages and reinstatement of his position – reinstatement of Vargo’s benefits, injunctive relief, declaratory relief that Martin can’t hold appointed public office, damages of $1,000 for each violation of wiretapping statutes and punitive damages.
“The people of Wilmington, the people of North Carolina and the veteran community throughout our nation should be concerned,” Vargo said.
TConnor Smith joined the WECT team in July 2024 as a multi-media journalist/reporter. Originally from Arlington, Virginia, he graduated from Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Public Communications in 2024 with a degree in broadcast and digital journalism and minors in sport management and political science.
