Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes,
and,
yes.
Yep - worked with a lot of “Squids” in my 24 year career and they have generally been some of the best trained and capable of any branch - even my beloved AF. The two warships being disabled by civilian vessels in such a short time and in the same arena tells me something is seriously wrong and I watched it head downhill (after climbing back up after the ‘Nam era) from the time declared the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” crap and escalate as Obama embraced those who identified by their preference for “partners/methods in orgasms”...
Thank you Bare-@$$ Obama.
Quartermasters operate “radar, sonar, engines, the commissary, etc.”?
I thought radarmen, sonarmen, enginemen, and storekeepers did that.
Everyone must have been asleep! How do you explain NOT seeing a tanker ship the size of a warehouse bearing down on you?
Excellent point.
Though I never served in Navy (and I don’t wanna second-guess what happens on the bridge of a ship), it stands to reason that someone should have been aware of the closeness of the merchant ship.
And while not deflecting blame, did anyone on the merchant ship contact the Navy ship via radio and say (albeit in laymens terms “Whoa...WTF? You getting a little close to us!”
I have a relative that served on the Essex-Class carrier of the same name, when it was assigned to ASW off of Cape Canaveral during the early part of the space program.
Also, watches don't always end at 4 AM; on my ship underway we had a 'port and starboard' watch system...some called it 'chow to chow'...first watch of the day was from midnight to 7 AM, then 7 AM to noon, noon to 5 PM and 5 PM to midnight...you worked two of the four, 7 days a week while at sea...took some getting used to!
I have no idea how these accidents have happened; there are always lookouts on watch, or at least there used to be. A port, starboard and after lookout at least, who checked in with the OS sound-powered phone talker every fifteen minutes. How a huge container ship could 'sneak up' on the Fitzgerald like that is beyond my comprehension, but seems a gross dereliction of duty by the captain.
“for anyone with common sense, even a Marine to figure out their respective duties.”
Marines fly sophisticated jet aircraft.
Just sayin
5.56mm
Obama has torn America apart,the military apart and did all he could to weaken our country. The Democrat Party is Evil and must be dealt with.
Another thread has a link to a videos showing a cargo ship intentionally ramming another one:
“Video Of Cargo Ship Practicing Ramming Technique Used Against Ships”
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3580265/posts
Another thing to know. Ships’ names are proper nouns. Saying “The USS John McCain” is like saying “The John Smith.”
I nearly refused to read the rest after this: “Next is the QM, or Quartermaster. Unlike in other services, they are NOT storekeepers, but Navigation Specialists. There operate radar, sonar, engines, the commissary, etc. You get the picture.”
QMs do not operate those devices.
But I went on... then I read this:
“The roughest was midnight to 4 AM. Most guys had worked all day and had a little rec time before sleeping. You were normally at your worst on that shift, keeping the OIC on his toes! But the McCain’s ramming took place just before or at sunrise. A fresh watch would have started at 4 AM.”
In my day Mid-4 was engineering drills and the real danger was 4-8. People stayed up for the mid-4, but they got out of their racks after too little sleep for the 4-8.
I actually preferred the mid-4 myself as a younger officer. Less brass on the bridge.. unless you lost power or something else (as I did on my first solo OOD on the Independence in the Gulf... True high water casualty on one boiler, maintenance on one, and drilling “casualty” underway on another... one boiler does not enough electricity make...we had to pass the admirals commands via flashing light for a bit) then they come out of the woodwork. But normally things are routine on that watch.
4-8 is prep for switching to sea & anchor, or prep for underway replenishment, prep for days events, waking CO with updates, snoozing lee helmsmen and lookouts, burnt coffee and prepping coffee for the brass to come. I hated the 4-8 and it was always with a crew that didn’t have enough sleep.
I had to constantly challenge my watch on the 4-8 with drills, challenges for finding contacts, etc to keep them alert. mid-4 I never won, 4-8 I constantly won... as the cruise went on they got better... same sailors typically, just not as alert on the one watch vs the other.
8-12 and 12-4 was a true workout always. On the Indy I prayed for flight ops on those - it drove a simpler routine and solid discussions with the CO. Non-flight ops - ugh hard XO discussions and a constant barrage of varying activities.
The Frigate prior was different from the carrier - I stood CICO and not OOD, but we were 12 on 12 off for that command. Too few people with too many tasks to rotate any other way. We made mess cooks into tactical plotters. Staffed for peacetime while operating at simulated wartime tempo. During exercises I’d often be up 48 hours straight ensuring the operations were on schedule and advancing message traffic through the chain of command on any changes. I was either doing something or in my down time dead to the world.
The article overall is ok - but there are definite assumptions I and other sailors would disagree with. I would love to know where he/she sourced the info...if he/she bothered.