BOSTON (AP) – The Massachusetts Maritime Academy’s board of trustees voted Sunday to fire its president, Admiral Richard Gurnon, just six months after his appointment.

Gurnon said trustees of the Buzzards Bay school have not given him a reason for his dismissal, which is subject to the approval of the state’s Board of Higher Education.

Gurnon’s supporters claim he is being targeted for his strict adherence to the school’s regimental code, including limits on students’ drinking.

“All I can say is that I was hired to make decisions in the best interests of the institution. If the board differs, it is their right,” said Gurnon, adding that he would honor the board’s demand to vacate his office immediately.

Gurnon read a statement and invited questions from the trustees before they voted 9-1 to dismiss him. They did not publicly debate his firing before they took the vote, according to Gurnon and others who attended the meeting.

Lisa Gusmini, the only board member who voted against Gurnon’s firing, also said she is baffled by the move. Gusmini said she asked board chairman Arthur Desrochers for an explanation, but he cut her off and adjourned the meeting.

“I am also in the dark,” said Gusmini, a 1986 graduate of the paramilitary college. “I had no idea they were going to do this, and I’m on the board. That tells you how this board operates.”

Several trustees, including Desrochers, did not immediately return telephone calls seeking comment. Another trustee, John Linnon, declined to comment on Gurnon’s dismissal.

Mark Peters, the academy’s chief legal counsel, said trustees had “lost confidence in (Gurnon’s) ability to lead the academy,” but said he could not elaborate on why. And the board is not legally required to explain its decision, Peters added.

Gurnon, who has worked at the state-funded school for 27 years, served as its acting president for two years before the board voted 6-5 in June to make him president. Since then, he said, the board has given him “no direction, no evaluation and no guide for the future.”

“Nothing has happened in the last three weeks – in fact, nothing has happened in the last 27 years – that would cause my performance to come under question,” he said.

Geoffrey C. Wilkinson, a former trustee chairman who served on the selection committee that picked Gurnon for the job, said Gurnon was “railroaded out the door without due process.”

“He did nothing to deserve this other than follow the rules and regulations of the regimental handbook,” said Wilkinson. “This is a very sad day in the history of the institution.”

Wilkinson, who also leads the academy’s fund-raising and investment arm, described Gurnon as strict but fair and unbiased.

Karen White, president of the school’s parents association, said some parents and alumni spoke out during the meeting and asked for board members to explain why they want to remove Gurnon. They did not respond, she said.

“This is a personal vendetta,” White said. “Several board members have made it clear that they don’t like him.”

Also Sunday, Capt. Allen Hansen agreed to step down as the school’s vice president. Gurnon said Hansen was given a choice of leaving and accepting a settlement package or be fired.

The Buzzards Bay college, which is more than a century old, prepares its 900 students for careers in the maritime industry. Students graduate with a bachelor of science degree with an option to earn a Naval officer’s commission.