Posted on 06/12/2015 7:26:26 AM PDT by submarinerswife
The crew of the California (and their families, the commander would hasten to add) make these sacrifices because they believe in the submarine’s role in protecting the United States. “We will be called upon to execute the full spectrum of both peacetime and wartime missions, ranging from intelligence collection to kinetic warfare,” states the leadership principles Commander Sager distributed to his officers.
(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...
An organization’s mission, particularly one as crucial as the Navy’s, will motivate people to go beyond their previous limits, to deprive themselves of much of what they would otherwise need. “Once you’re underway, you’re a different person than when you’re on shore,” said Lt. Block. However, the research is clear that those deprivations will eventually take their toll, no matter how noble the mission. In such tight quarters, the morale of the crew can be sensed, said the captain. “I have to build in downtime for the crew,” he said. “No one’s going to do that for me; that’s my responsibility.”
For Commander Sager, the key to the California executing its missions, to an officer or sailor succeeding under such extreme circumstances, and to his effectiveness as a leader is understanding each crewman’s unique personality and who he’s left on land. “It’s not about him as a member of the workforce; it’s about him as an individual.”
“I’ve learned over 17 years (in the submarine service) how to read someone pretty well,” he said. Failing that, “just simply asking them will do it.” Does he keep a mental file on each member of his crew? “I have a written file! I take notes every time I meet with someone – how he and I interacted, how it went.”
Some months ago, one of his officers was directing the boat as it rose to periscope depth. The operation is deadly serious; a mistake could cause the submarine to be detected in hostile waters, take on water, or – exceptionally rarely – cause a collision with a surface ship. The “officer of the deck” must quickly assimilate information from the pilot and co-pilot at the forward end of the control room, the sonar operators to his left, weapons people to this right, and the navigators in the center of the room. He must be decisive – and right. Nearly everything happening in the submarine, including how the cooks are timing meal preparations around the angle of the kitchen as it rises or dives, is in response to that officer’s commands.
i wouldn’t last six minutes on a submarine. bless em all.
I was waiting for the payoff about ice cream in the story and never got it.
I’m a former naval officer who as a civilian worked for a former boomer skipper. He was an incredible boss - his leadership, motivational, and organizational skills were beyond anything I’d ever seen, inside the Navy or out. Without the somewhat forced formality of the wardroom and the huffiness of some commanders, we got a lot done.
I’ve been on a nuke sub, I’ve had friends who were submariners, including a very close one, sometimes had club meetings at the local “Horse and Cow”, and just hung out there in between meetings, I even have a framed something with my name on it, from a nuke sub, but submariners have always been foreign to me.
It is an exotic little niche in the military.
For the polar opposite of Dick O'Kane, I refer to the captain of U-505 who shot himself during a depth charge attack. Very, very bad leadership skills.
Thanks for the posting. Qualified on USS SKATE SSN 578, USS NAUTILUS SSN 571, AND USS DANIEL WEBSTER SSBN 626G a boomer.
Career Navy with more than 15 years submarining. It was a great time in my life. An adventure. Not many people can say they surfaced a nuclear submarine at the North Pole — in my case, twice. Did so in USS SKATE SSN 578.
RMCS(SS), USN Ret.
from what I remember, all the U-505 commanders after the first one were pretty much in bad shape.
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