 In 1974, he stated that in his experience, any ship that is capable of carrying nuclear weapons carries nuclear weapons and does not off-load them when they are in foreign ports.The statement directly conflicted with the Department of Defense's "neither confirm nor deny" (NC/ND) policy regarding such weapons and sparked controversy in Japan, which has had a non-nuclear policy since World War II.As a Lieutenant Commander, La Rocque was commanding officer of USS Solar, destroyed on April 30, 1946, in an explosion while loading torpex at Naval Ammunition Depot, Earle (now Naval Weapons Station, Earle) in New Jersey.