Exactly what do you do to these guys?
In all cases they were promoted too quickly, shuttled between jobs every 6 months just to get their squares filled, and were, therefore, completely unready for the responsibilities of being a chief engineer. They were good guys, they were just shoved into the job way too fast. That’s a job where you need experience and the only way you’re going to get that is time on the job.
I don’t know if you’re familiar with the USS Cowpens in the last couple of years. The phenomenon of the ship captain that won’t come out of his stateroom is well known, even in the US Navy.