According to a shocking report published by the Navy Times, the male sailors accused of illicitly filming their female colleagues aboard the USS Wyoming were actually the center of a sophisticated ring that filmed women multiple times a day for ten months.

The video recording ring existed aboard the submarine during two three-month patrols from August to November 2013 and March to June 2014. Even though phones and mp3 players were banned from the vessel, three sailors used cellphones and an iPod Touch to secretly record female midshipmen changing and showering through a hole in the wall. The sailors would appoint someone to keep watch and even take shifts in order to methodically film the women at every opportunity.

The videos were distributed amongst several other men in the crew. While many crew members agreed to become a part of the video ring, some deleted the videos immediately.

MT2 Jonathan Ashby told investigators that he was approached by Missile Technician 2nd Class Charles Greaves, who transferred the video files to his computer.

“I selected the first video, and once I had realized that it was a female officers in the shower, I immediately stopped the video and proceeded to delete them, telling him that I did not want them, and that he too should delete them,” Ashby stated.

However, Ashby was too embarrassed and afraid of retribution from his peers to report the video. The Navy repeatedly heard similar sentiments from other sailors, who knew about the video ring but said nothing even though they disapproved.

Eventually, eight sailors were courtmartialed for participating in the ring, one was acquitted, three went to the captain’s mast and one was not charged.

Lt. Jennifer Carroll, a female midshipmen who serves on the USS Maine, told the Navy Times that this scandal runs against everything she believed about serving on a Navy crew.

“I really do think the submarine community is special; members of your crew become like family,” Carroll said. “In my experience relationships with members of my crew were founded on trust and mutual respect. This event contradicted what I thought was a universal sense of camaraderie among submariners.”