“Which I assume means that in the McCain collision male officers almost sank another ship?”
I just went over the official report:
https://s3.amazonaws.com/CHINFO/USS+Fitzgerald+and+USS+John+S+McCain+Collision+Reports.pdf
I didn’t see where people who screwed up were identified by sex or rank. The CO, of course, is ultimately responsible, but the report didn’t identify the OOD, JOOD, helm, lee helm, or any of the snipes.
According to the official report, which may or may not be honest and accurate, they were steaming through the straits with no lee helmsman on watch. The helmsman seemed to be having some difficulty handling both the helm and the engine-order telegraph, so they ordered up a lee helmsman.
Control of the engine order telegraph was supposed to be shifted from the helmsman’s station to the lee helmsman’s station. Instead, both engine control and steering were shifted, but nobody was notified of that. In addition, the two shafts were not coupled.
The helmsman reported loss of steering control, and it looks like people lost it at that point. Two reductions in speed were ordered, but because of the error in not linking the two shafts, only the speed of the port shaft was reduced. This had the effect of causing the ship to come left into oncoming traffic.
Do you know where the people who were on watch are identified? Or the snipes who screwed up the transfer of control to the lee helm?
I read the report, too. The captain, a guy, was on the bridge and in charge of the ship. The executive officer, a guy, was also on the bridge. The OOD was on the bridge but not in charge. The captain, a guy, ignored the recommendation of the executive officer, the navigator, and the senior watch officer to set the sea and anchor detail, which I assume would put more people on duty to help out in a congested sea lane. So where are the moans and groans about how the Pentagon is covering up the fact that male officers nearly sank a Navy ship?