Posted on 11/02/2017 6:01:56 AM PDT by beebuster2000
this report plus other sources show incredible lack of training. in the case of the McCain collision, the crew on deck, with the Captain present became confused on how to helm the ship and veered into a commercial vessel.
in the case of the Fitzgerald, the Officers on the bridge became confused with identified oncoming commercial vessels and had multiple near collisions before colliding with the container ship.
it appears the Navy is unprepared to fight a war, and has trouble merely driving the ships. then there is this one liner: Navy will now limit work week to less than 100 hours/week for sailors at sea. and a new policy: if you are not qualified to be at sea you will now not be at sea, previously ships were manned with unqualified seamen apparently. all this due to underfunding and budget cutbacks apparently.
scary stuff
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/01/us/politics/navy-collisions-avoidable.html?_r=0
http://abcnews.go.com/US/report-finds-deadly-navy-collisions-avoidable/story?id=50858605
When you enter a congested commercial sea lane at 20 knots (20 friggin’ knots!), and you’re a stupid affirmative action Junior Officer...bad things are certain to happen.
Everyone else is doing 10-12 knots and maintaining separation.
It’s like entering a freeway on-ramp at 125mph and crossing six lanes to get to the “fast lane”.
I’m sorry, I just can’t believe this CRAP!
“it appears the Navy ..... has trouble merely driving the ships.”
I mean, I LITERALLY don’t believe it. It just can’t be correct. Complete BULLSHIRT!
I know nothing about the Navy. (Army vet) Here is my guess. Too much time spent on “diversity training”. Not enough time spent on learning how to be a sailor. (Operation of the ship)
In the bathtub of Obama’s military, turds float ....
June 7 USS Fitzgerald collision, 7 dead
August 21 USS John McCain collision, 10 dead
October 1, Las Vegas shooting, 58 dead
USAF here. Back when BJ Clinton was POTUS the DOD removed all regulation and replaced them with Instruction Manuals. Regs were considered written orders, IM’s were considered suggestions. The AF COS was more concerned with uniform changes than fighting war.
Obama’s DOD went so progressive it destroyed the ranks. Leaders were told if they refused to adjust, they would be removed. And they were. Most, if not all, of our warfighters jumped ship or retired. The armed forces lost all of thier experienced troops. These accidents are a direct result of horrible policy.
The military is so depleted of experience, they are activating the ready reserves. They are also asking prior military and retirees, with certian restrictions, to re-enter military service.
More NAVY hocum. You can’t handle the truth.
Ships designed for all male crews with 25% having to be constantly rotated for pregnancies.
Every ship is different and you need to be on a ship for 8 months to really know her at all.
This is what happens when “diversity” is promoted over competent performance.
So they can be watch officers and OODs and Captains but can’t connect a f***ing ship?
How do you complete boot camp and NOT be qualified to go to sea? That used to be the point of it.
Disgusting. There needs to be a wholesale firing of admirals. There are more admirals than there are ships.
That’s conn a ship, not connect. Damm autocorrect.
Yes, but the principles of conning a ship in the open ocean are the same be it a Naval Academy YP or an aircraft carrier, and are pretty much the same on a sailing dingy, except you dont have to worry about sails and wind direction.
I disagree now, and I disagreed when I first heard about the Fitzgerald, that a "terrorist event" was the cause (neither the Crystal nor a computer virus that altered the ship's navigational abilities.)
I held out that it was a one-in-a-million possibility of happening, that a series of small mishaps led to an unfortunate accident.
What we found out after reading the report was that the OOD was operating within a toxic culture on that command, and that they had made HUGE blunders: excessive speed, under-manned bridge, failed to recognize imminent danger, inability to operate navigational radars, failed to abide by international navigational rules, and failed to communicate with internal watchstanders, or with those on the Crystal.
I would liked to have known what the ranks and experience levels of the watchstanders were, particularly the OOD and CIC watch officers. Did the OOD recently qualify on the Fitzgerald? How many watches have they stood? What was in their readiness evaluations?
Mariner, you are a true mariner — and correct that 20 knots is an insane speed in a congested waters.
I also read part of the report that said the Captain was asleep at the time of incident at 1:30 AM.
The Captain should always be up on deck in situations like this. It’s very dangerous.
I was a JOOD on a destroyer in the 70s. I remember one time we were operating with a small task force in the congested Strait of Hormuz (Persian Gulf). And the Navy ship ahead of us had a narrow miss with a merchant ship. This was in the middle of the night and the Captain was on deck.
We were peering into binoculars and the Captain was watching the two ships and observed they were so close “Their radar blips merged!”
The other angle here is the Command Information Center was not doing its job tracking path of other ships to avoid collision.
But I fault the Captain the most. He’s the one who needs to be up and alert during times of hazardous navigation.
Basically but every ship is different
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.