[robowombat]

Go to the URL for the texts of documents cited in this report.

[doorgunner69]

my crew’s heroic efforts to save a sinking ship while I was incapacitated by injury,

He fails to note that he and they were in that situation because of his failure to command.

[Steely Tom]

Too bad the laws of mechanics didn’t have access to the ex-Captain’s manifesto before the collision.

[Gay State Conservative]

I'm an old Army guy who was never been rebuked by a commander or court martialed...and I know absolutely nothing about the Navy.But one would think that in peacetime the main responsibilities of the senior command aboard any Naval vessel are 1) make sure your crew,and your vessel,don't come to any harm and 2) make sure your crew is well trained in their duties.

[Bruce Campbells Chin]

I read the (very) extensive USNI original report in its entirety. Benson had only had command of that ship for a month, and by all accounts, was an improvement over his predecessor in terms of tighter training, discipline, etc.. One month was not nearly enough time to remedy long-standing training deficiencies, and the short-staffing made that even more of a problem. The crew was so undermanned that there weren't enough watchstanders to have eyes on each side of the bridge wing.

The Navy has had a real problem with undermanned surface ships for years, and given the tempo at which they have been operating, it makes proper training almost impossible.

[zeestephen]

Re: “...a straight-line transit through unrestricted waters.”

As far as the criminal charges, seems like that fact should carry a lot of weight.

[Bruce Campbells Chin]

Should probably add that the three officers on duty that night in the critical ship-driving positions were all female.

[NonValueAdded]

Overcharging? The Captain has a point but what he should say is “criminally negligent? Take my command; beach me if you must; but the one who is criminally negligent is the one who gave me no choice but to fill the watch bill with vagitarians.”

[dsc]

The first thing a ship must do is keep a proper lookout. Failure to keep a proper lookout is unacceptable.

Apparently, this ship was sent to sea without sufficient manning to keep a proper lookout. I’m not sure if that was a legal order.

I guess the captain could have resigned his commission in protest, but he decided to play the game, and obeyed his orders. That was his only chance at keeping his career on track.

I’m sure there’s a lot I don’t know about this, but I don’t think I could have left the bridge and gone to sleep knowing I didn’t have lookouts on the port and starboard bridge wings.

As for the captain’s “long-term” failures, he had only been in the job for a month. Accusing him of long-term failures is transparently malicious.

[Thud]

Commander Benson's footnote 2 is very damning of the US Navy's personnel practices.

The Fitzgerald had lacked a qualified senior quartermaster for TWO YEARS. When Benson arrived as XO, the senior quartermaster was a reservist who had never completed an operational deployment.

There is plenty of blame to go around.

[RockyTx]

where is Gordon Lightfoot
when we need him?

[blueunicorn6]

There’s always a touch of luck in a successful command, and a touch of bad luck in an unsuccessful command.

That’s just the way it works.

My first commander told me,

“Command is just a license to go to jail.”

It can seem that way.

[kenmcg]

As for incompetence in the Navy, just look at what the so called officers the Naval Academy, as well as West Point are turning out.