This old Army guy knows just about nothing about the Navy but it’s easy to see why questions would be asked about incidents like those collisions.I just don’t know how far up the chain of command such questions might go.
Old Army guy here, too. The tough part about all of this is that the guys wearing the stars are totally at the mercy of some anonymous 19-year-old E-3 following orders and using proper procedure at all times to ensure safe operation in an inherently dangerous atmosphere/situation. Of course, the E-3 has a chain of command that should be checking behind every move and conducting training in all operational procedures to be certain of proper execution of orders. Sounds good but people are still people and absolute perfection is tough to be achieve.
In my Army time, I know I put my lieutenant bars on the line with every round shot from a howitzer where I was responsible as either a Safety Officer or Executive Officer. I never had an incident but certainly heard of rounds being sent out of the impact zone or a battery being aimed 180 degrees wrong. I have no knowledge of a general officer being brought to grief over such incidents.
Priorities for the force, including training priorities go right to the top of the chain of command.
The feeling in the navy is that this is institutional for surface and sub warfare people; going back to basics. Years ago much of the training was moved to CBT’s and away from hands on training.
For a single incident, questions might only be asked of the commanding officer involved. The Pacific Fleet had numerous incidents, two of them deadly, and all of them will cost millions, even hundreds of millions to repair. Given the seemingly systemic issues, a much higher degree of accountability is required, and the Fleet Commander should be rightly punished.