Court-Martial Defense Cites Ship Defects

Military.com ^ | 11/2/10 | Anon

[Non-Sequitur]

NORFOLK -- Navy Lt. Cmdr. Sean Kearns' court-martial on a charge of negligence in his duties as executive officer of the ship San Antonio began Monday -- but he's not the only one on trial.

The proceeding -- related to the death of a Sailor during a deployment last year -- could give the already bruised San Antonio ship program yet another black eye.

Prosecutors contend that Kearns did not ensure effective training or supervision of small boat operations on Feb. 4, 2009, when the amphibious transport dock ship -- the first in its class -- was operating in the Gulf of Aden.

That morning, an 11-meter rigid-hull inflatable boat with three Sailors aboard was lowered to the water. Its engines failed to start, and it flipped over soon after hitting the water. Two Sailors were rescued. Petty Officer 1st Class Theophilus Ansong, the small boat's engineer, apparently drowned. His life vest, too large for his frame and improperly closed, was recovered; his body was never found.

[Non-Sequitur]

It's not uncommon for a lead ship in a class to be responsible for developing policy and procedures, but on the face of it this sounds like the XO is the scapegoat.

[AU72]

His life vest, too large for his frame and improperly closed, was recovered; his body was never found.

The Petty Officer and Deck Officer in charge of the detail should be in the dock as well.

[Pecos]

If the XO of a lead ship has not required that procedures be written, checked, and tested, then he is to blame for that aspect of the problem - especially if he was as experienced as his attorney has claimed in other articles. But, it sounds like the death may have been directly attributable to the sailor not securing his life vest. My experience is that there is a designated safety observer for deck evolutions. Did that person get charged with anything?

[Squantos]

Demanding a court martial was a smart move.

Brings light on many problems that seem to be still present from the read provided. Article 15 would have been mere gundecking.

In this day of terabyte size external hard drives it is criminal to not have 20 plus copies of all ships manuals etc at hand....

Sad....

[GATOR NAVY]

As a QM, I spent a lot of time on the bridges of various amphibious ships and saw a lot of boat launches. I can’t say that it comes to mind for me that the XO was responsible for supervising small boat ops and required to be on the bridge. That was the OOD’s job. Sure the CO and/or XO might come up to the bridge, especially if the sea conditions were marginal, or it was an emergency like a MOB, but on the whole, putting a boat in the water is a fairly routine operation for a gator.

I agree with that this looks like scapegoating.