Posted on 04/23/2023 1:49:46 PM PDT by grundle
Video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQCksqF5Sd8
On April 14, 2023, the US Navy launched its newest vessel in its fleet. The USS Cleveland, LCS-31, is a Freedom Class littoral combat ship. At 388 feet, it weighs in at 3,410 metric tons and can exceed 46mph on the water. Ordinarily, a ship launch is a publicized event with local coverage but rarely rises to the level of national attention. This event, however, was different and not in a good way.
Since its founding in October 1775, the US Navy has proudly and effectively served the nation in peacetime and wartime. As a maritime branch of service, it is intuitive that part of its essential existence involves building and launching ships. After 248 years, it would seem that the Navy has had time to perfect the process of putting a newly built ship made with taxpayers dollars into the water without mishap. During the mass ship building in World War 2, the Navy managed to coordinate the construction of over 5,500 ships and launch them without problems. Even 1000+ foot long aircraft carriers seem to be put to sea with routine ease, as should be expected after over 2 centuries of practice.
On 14 April 2023, the US Navy launched the USS Cleveland, the 4th ship to proudly bear that name. During the launch, the ship slid into the water and crashed into a tugboat, damaging the brand new ship that cost between $600M and $800M dollars. The launch was on time and performed in front of a planned publicly attended event. Admittedly, I am a former Army officer and not a sailor, but it would seem obvious that you don’t park a tiny tugboat at the base of a ramp where a ship larger than a football field will hurtle down a ramp and crash into the water. Numerous YouTube videos document the debacle. Here is one:
As a physician, I am in a profession that performs root cause analyses when dangerous events occur. This type of investigation is performed to see if the event was caused by isolated human error or bad luck or if it was the cause of a systemic failure/problem that could indicate that similar events could predictably happen again unless leadership, equipment, or process changes are implemented. Given that this was the 16th ship of this class built and put to sea and that the US Navy has been putting ships to see for over 248 years, it is likely this is not caused by a new ship or a brand new navy launching its first ship.
What has changed is the leadership of the Navy. While festering for years, the problem accelerated in 2020/2021 with the election of Biden and the wokeism/DEI culture that has taken hold of the Department of Defense. The Navy seems more focused on pronoun training, DEI/woke curriculum for its service academy and service members, and on forced quotas for LGTBQ+ personnel within its ranks. Contrary to repeated assertions from DoD that DEI is making the military stronger, it is actually distracting the military and making it less effective. The proof is in this video and in the recent loss of Afghanistan.
This is not a problem of lower ranking officers and enlisted in the Navy. This is a problem of the Navy’s admirals. When the most expensive Navy in the world with seemingly unlimited budgets for equipment cannot even put a ship in the water without damaging it, it is clear that it has a leadership problem that flows from the top of its ranks. When the first mission of a brand new ship is to be deadlined for repairs due to to a failed launch, it is a clear sign that the admirals of the US Navy at the highest levels have lost focus of their raison d’entre. Worse, this is not the first event and, fresh on the heels of an embarrassing loss in a foreign war and a military that refuses to do introspection, the obvious solution is that the highest ranking admirals in the US Navy have failed and need to be replaced. With a SECDEF cheering on the DEI/woke process, this will clearly only happen with elections in 2024 to put politicians in place to ‘clean house’ in DoD by firing most or all of the senior leadership that cares more for wokeism than for defending the US Constitution and fielding a competent military.
That’s because they care more about fags trannys and drag shows than national defense
Did the Navy launch this or the contractor?
In organizational theory it has been shown over and over that any large organization can only do one thing well. Take education. When America felt threatened by what appeared to be superior Soviet technology the education system was revamped and became the envy of the world. Then, it was used to achieve social change. Now it is arguably a wart on the hind end of society. The same is apparently happening to the Navy.
“What about that other boat in the way?”
“It’ll move.”
Ships have been referred to as shes for several hundred years. Is that going to be a problem now?
As one person commented last time:
Who contracts with the shipyard? The Navy.
Who has oversight over its contractors? The Navy.
Who inspects and certifies its contractors? The Navy.
Who enforces myriad quality control and safety regulations at its contractors? The Navy.
Who has someone on site at time of launch? The Navy
You’re right. The Navy had nothing to do with it.
It wasn’t that long ago that the Navy brass was trying to put an end to Rush’s show being broadcast on ships at sea because a some ‘sailors’ were offended by his conservative monologues. Oh how times have changed.
“Woke US Navy Can’t Launch A Ship Without Breaking It”
Take that, Putin!!!!
Cleveland, city of light, city of magic
Cleveland, city of light, you’re calling me
Cleveland, even now I can remember.......
Contractor
Not the Navy
“It wasn’t that long ago that the Navy brass was trying to put an end to Rush’s show being broadcast on ships at sea because a some ‘sailors’ were offended by his conservative monologues.”
I think that was at least 20 years ago. It was on a military radio channel, and I think it was under Clinton that they tried to kill it. I also think it was only the first hour...but far better than nothing!
bttt
Future USS Cleveland Strikes A Tugboat During Sideway Launch | Analysis of the Event
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jo7KOnh0XAc
The rule is “Never allege a conspiracy when simple incompetence will explain the issue.”
Maybe our analysis should start with asking why the tugboat was were it was and if the boat’s skipper was receiving the needed information to maintain situational awareness.
You are welcome to check the skipper’s gender identity/pronouns/“wokeness” if you wish, but it will probably turn out to be a very local and low level case of corner cutting on safety and possibly being slow to react when things went sideways…
USS Clevland used to be LPD-7 back in the days when I had the watch in the Tonkin Gulf and I knew I was on station when the ship was completely obscured by the flag ship Iwo Jima.
It wasn’t the Navy.
Woman driver?
Numerous posts about this. This was a shipyard evolution. Not a Navy action.
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