“Not many people of my age can say, ‘Hey, I just drove a giant-ass battleship,’” said Bordeaux, 23.
I would wager that the namesake of the ship was at least equally responsible for ship disaster.
Making thumb-down motion with my other hand.
Some say it’s The Curse of Juan McCain.
McCain always had technical problems that prevented him from steering a good or accurate course. His steering system always pulled hard to the left.
**Standing orders** in the Navy are for someone to keep a watch out the bridge windows at all times while underway. The problem isn’t the technology.
So, the same problem as it’s namesake.
And neither can you.
A 8,300-ton destroyer is a far cry from a 58,400-ton battleship.
“There was actually a lot of functions on there that I had no clue what on earth they did,” Bordeaux said of the system.
And he was in charge of steering. He should not have been on the bridge, except to observe in training, until he knew what EVERY dial, display, and control on the bridge did.
ping.
When i was in in the early 90’s we didn’t have any touch screen tech in the engineering mainspaces themselves but every sailor knew CYA. CYA at all costs because even if you followed orders to a T, shit rolls downhill and the NAVY and its upper brass will punish you even if its not warranted. Document, Document, Document. COVER YOUR ASS..........
The Navy’s karma ran over its dogma. They have very good ships and technology, but the leadership in many cases has a defective CMA mentality.
Doesn't the Navy have simulators ? I know for a fact that the US merchant marine have used simulators for decades.
Fortunately, the Navy requires more training for its nuclear reactor operators.
I’ve got experience myself piloting commercial motor vessels this size
Three and one half minutes is plenty time to avoid another vessel while underway
I’m not a veteran but it seems like our military always blame service men first before systems or technology
Was there no way to simply override this vexed steering system and revert to manual
If not how to steer if a power loss to the bridge?
A genuine pilot wheel could averted this
She’s a twin shaft.....that makes another way to steer clear of danger
I will say as someone who been in the port of Singapore there should have been a serious officer or high ranking enlisted man on that bridge
Another question is if they were but 20 miles from docking Singapore when the hell does the bar or port pilot board?
I’ve been on a ship collision on a small freighter in Miragoane Haiti
You do reach a. Point where it’s impossible to avoid contact
My captain was attempting a beam to beam anchorage to lighter from us to the ship at the old pre slave revolt dock
He came in too hard..from 100 yards out there was nowhere to go but to hit gunnel to gunnel enough to scrape paint and dent the railing in the contact spot
Another time on the Calcaseiu river in St Charles a chem carrier hit us barely...that was pilot error but trust me they never ever own it
River pilot association are extortion rackets
Loss of steering? Did anyone consider stopping??? Say nothing of the two female officers who weren’t talking to each other.
I really find it hard to believe that a ‘kid’ with 4 months in the Navy was at the helm of a Destroyer in ‘heavy waters’ with the Skipper knowing of the steering problems.
I would think the CO would have had enough sense to have his Senior Helmsman in place.
Or at least the XO or OOD noticing the situation.
Story appears ‘full of holes’ to me and I basically read it to the end and it ends up with the kid getting ‘bounced’ after 1 1/2 years because of alcholism(??)(He mentions spending 500 per week on booze and falling asleep on watch).
As to his ‘discharge’ they say he was demoted to the lowest rate but I would find it hard to believe he was much higher than SA or SN - IF he was suffering from nightmares, lack of sleep etc etc.
One might ‘accept’ the steering a Battleship from the 17/18 yo right out of Boot Camp, BUT he is quoted as saying that at 23. (further down it said he went into USN directly out of HS) in 2017 so unless he graduated at 20, the story has more holes than I thought.
It may be a ‘picky’ point on my part BUT if they can’t get the ‘easy’ part right, how can you trust the ‘hard’ stuff???
Nothing wrong with GOOD electronics. Seems these elections weren’t worked out before the ship went to sea. Bad move. And a mechanical emergency system for faulty electronics should have been mandatory before settling sail. (Could be minimal. Like emergency throttle and some emergency steering)
I know. Last year, as an Uber driver, I gave a ride in the night from my hometown, Lexington, to Pikeville, a town 138 miles away in the mountains. Most of the 606 area code is a dead zone for my phone, so as soon as I dropped my ride off, all the apps on my phone failed, including the GPS. To come back on those little country roads, I navigated the old fashioned way, with a paper map. A lot of the folks I tell that story to will say they couldn’t have found their way home, if they had been in my situation.
Sanchez quickly noticed that his new helmsman seemed flustered by the difficulty of having to control the ship’s steering and speed at the same time. He decided to split the helm, giving Bordeaux control over the ship’s wheel. While Bordeaux remained at his station, Dontrius Mitchell, a second sailor on the bridge, was assigned to take control of the speed of the McCain at a neighboring station known as the lee helm.
Sanchez’s order was unexpected — he had not discussed the possibility in meetings with the crew before entering the straits. Nor had the crew practiced the maneuver much. Bordeaux could only remember doing it once or twice before.
They should have known after that drunken bastard crashed 3 or 5 planes.