Posted on 08/28/2017 10:21:40 PM PDT by Ace's Dad
Part of the issue is also staffing. New ships are highly automated just like commercial aircraft. Meaning the bridge during peacetime steaming may only have two people on it who believe their automatic systems no matter what. When something out of the ordinary happens they don’t know what to do...either because if poor training or poor thought processes. In the early years of computers people would believe an incorrect time if the computer showed it even though it was hours off.
I retired as an enineroom machinist in the late 80’s and even back then we had to sneak around and use non standard parts, broken tools, and modified machines. The social experiments had begun way back then with the acceptance of low asvab scores. I had to work around many incompetent people that I was not allowed to get rid of. I can only be thankful I don’t have to be there now.
I always look for what is not being talked about by the relevant authorities. Specifically, were human eyes on watch at the time of the collision(s) and where were they stationed on the ship? Perhaps the policy makers and top commanders think the public will accept ‘vague generalities’ about training, operational tempo, etc. We have seen 17 or so young American sailors lose their lives in the last four months in similar circumstances. I believe the proximate cause is to be found in the factual details.
“”A large lumbering oil tanker traveling at 20 kts””
Can anyone come up with a reason the USS McCain gets hit by a tanker doing 9.2 kts other than incompetence?
whereas the Navy has shorted training and maintenance, they have gone full speed ahead in all programs promoting social issues regarding deviant sexual behavior, women in unsuitable occupations such as the submarines and SEALS, and on and on. They have taken their eyes off the prize.
Maintenance might be a contributing cause of these collisions, but it is probably not a root cause.
Captain Eyers in his three part commentary on the Fitzgerald and McCain collisions made this conclusion in Part I. “”It is possible that we have arrived at a place where our COs are poor and inexperienced mariners, and that this situation was authored by none other than their own, the surface community’s leadership.””
https://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/2017-08/collisions-part-i—what-are-root-causes
It is possible that Commanding Officers in the Navy are no longer qualified to be on the bridge.
Remember that in the Fitzgerald collision the Commanding Officer Benson was NOT is his ‘atsea’ cabin behind the bridge.
Maybe the reason the Commanding Officer is not called to the bridge when there are many ships close by, is that the CO is not qualified to steer the ship.
We have not heard anything about the whereabouts of the CO of the McCain at the time of the collision. Was he/she on the bridge?
“The number one factor, though, is money.”
Somehow the better part of $1 Trillion a year can’t get us a military that is ready to fight. That’s what I’m hearing.
If that’s the case, then more money won’t help.
I call BULLSHIRT on this whole article. This guy is a plant or a conspirator in the Fitzgerald/McCain coverups.
Get this guy some Whine to go with his cheese.
Give each ship a case of duct tape and JB Weld and they can fix anything. /s
Training?
“Look out that window. If you see a ship getting bigger and bigger in that window, tell someone.” /s
I am amazed at just how easy this is going to be, I mean getting the public to believe that these “accidents” were the fault of the inept, untrained crew.
Compared to the Flight 800 coverup, this is going to be a piece of cake.
These types of mishaps are rarely the result of one person or procedure going wrong but rather several systems and procedures degrading over time until finally the inevitable happens.
In Navy aviation maintenance, we talk about the "holes in Swiss cheese lining up."
It isn't lack of money as much as not enough money going to maintenance and training. Building new ships earn votes for congressmen. Fixing old ones doesn't.
hmmm ring knockers?
Indeed, the article mentions this:
GMT consists of stuff like suicide awareness training, alcohol abuse training, sexual assault and hazing prevention training, fraternization prevention training, financial management training, stress recognition training and, yes, transgender policy training.
And there's a lot of it!
The point still stands, methinks.
Apparently keeping our ships capable and keeping them out of the way of productive civilian shipping (the very LEAST they can do) is too hard for the Navy.
I think a lot of this stems from having women on ships, a big distraction for young red blooded men who should be doing thier jobs.
As a former enlisted "Green Striper," (PHAN) I agree. Heard it again as a Public Affairs officer at NAF Detroit in the Gulf war.
In 1974, as a newly-reporting Ensign, I hadn’t been fully trained as an underway deck watch officer either. BUT, I had a CO dedicated to that task. I was placed in a series of increasingly difficult situations until I was qualified for fleet ops. That paid off the day I prevented a collision at sea. Not bragging; just pointing out the benefit of an adequate training plan. Fortunately for the crew, that plan wasn’t diverted by SJW’s.
That's not what happened.
As the civilian economy tanked under his watch, Obama turned the military into a federal jobs program. A very good one where the fighting is done by a small handful while others enjoy an occupation with awesome pay and endless benefits and where the most dangerous thing they do is drive to work in the morning.
Indeed, there's a lot of people who shouldn't be there, who are only there for the TriCare.
My last work center had 20 people and five were single parents. They got to come to work late and leave early to deal with childcare issues, making work center training difficult. They didn't have to stand watch on weekends. When we needed to send individuals on detachments, their names were always stricken from the lists. When the unit deployed, they would be transferred to an administrative position that stayed ashore.
And yet they received competitive evaluations and were allowed to re-enlist.
I kept my mouth shut. The supervisor I replaced didn't and wound up with a career-ending "hostile workplace" grievance filed against him that saw him busted down in rank and kicked out with 17 years of service under his belt.
The point is that there is no conspiracy or electronic attacks that are causing these incidents. The blame lies squarely on the USN. As a Navy veteran, it is disturbing to see such ludicrous assertions by some on this thread.
And the single, (often male), reliable watchstanders (and the married who DID have a spouse and family) stood hundreds of extra hours while in port, then even more extra hours deployed so the single parents could leave. Makes those who are left even more tired, more resentful.
But the extra ever-gretaer “social training,” enviro-training, sexual training, sensitivity training, race-training, Muslim-training is mandated from Washington, and is done by the ones who want to get promoted.
They have not released OOD names in either recent collision. Many observers believe the OOD in both case were affirmative action selections. But we don’t know yet - yet the fact that they (press, Pentagon, AND Navy!) are hiding the ones actually responsible is revealing itself.
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