Posted on 09/03/2002 9:46:54 AM PDT by pabianice
YOKOSUKA NAVAL BASE, Japan — The captain of the USS Kitty Hawk has been relieved of duty because of the ship’s deteriorating condition, Navy officials said Tuesday.
Capt. Thomas Hejl, who assumed command in August 2001 of the Navy’s 41-year-old forward deployed aircraft carrier, was unable to guarantee the ship could “carry out essential missions and taskings,” a spokesman for the U.S. Navy 7th Fleet said Tuesday.
Vice Adm. Robert F. Willard, commander of 7th Fleet, met with Hejl on Tuesday morning and personally informed the captain of his decision, officials said.
“This action is a result of the continued degradation of the ship’s material condition and personnel readiness,” said Cmdr. Matt Brown, 7th Fleet spokesman. “It was not a result of any single issue or event; it was a whole series of things.” Brown cited two examples of those failures.
In one incident, the ship hit a buoy while entering a port in Singapore earlier this year while the captain was on the bridge directing the ship. That collision caused damage to the main shaft and propeller.
That incident has not been reported previously. More telling, the ship failed a “light off” assessment just last week, Brown said. That test is an inspection of the ship’s main propulsion plant, and one that must be passed before the ship is allowed to leave port, he said.
“There was also a lot of evidence that shows the watch standers were not following standard operating procedures, which directly led to some of the equipment casualties the ship experienced,” Brown said. Responsibility for maintaining crew readiness lies with the captain, he said.
Capt. Hejl was to address the ship’s crew via closed circuit television before handing over command to Capt. Robert D. Barbaree, the assistant chief of staff for operations, plans and engagement at 7th Fleet. Barbaree has previously served as executive officer aboard the carrier USS Nimitz and as commanding officer of the USS Seattle.
And this is the result.
The lack of training is disturbing--what IS the crew doing when underway or in port?
Commissioned in 1961...My previous ship (Kidd Class) was considered obsolete even though it was commissioned in the 80's.
Since navy personnel change commands frequently, the crew of the KH is made up of personnel that have served other commands. Also the SOP's/Training would have been created long before this CO was aboard. The personnel readiness deficiency must be related to either material readiness or a morale problem IMHO.
Short answer: that will not happen.
???? What is this?
Am I missing something here? Details, please. Thanks.
They're too busy having sexual harrasment training, sensativity training, or some other BS PC 'training'. Apparently no real work is getting done. Woe to the Navy if they have to fight a real war, I feel sorry for the sailors that will die because some ticket punching admiral decided that PC is above fighting/maintaining a warship. Glad I'm out of that canoe club.
No excuse for poor maintenance.
Yep, I was on a Spruence Class (USS Nicholson DD-982) and she was considered obsolite years ago, but she's still sailing.
While coming home from Europe last year, I flew into Philly, you wouldn't believe how many Sprunce's and Perry's were sitting in mothballs.
Whoa!
Sounds like my old home, Ford Motor Co., except Ford IV still hasn't figured out how the tire problems keep getting past his engineers.
It's because they sitting in PC training sessions instead of testing vehicles.
Simple economics. The Perry's and the Knox's and, to a lesser extent, the Spruance's were all built to escort the convoy's ferrying supplies to Europe in case of a Soviet invasion. Their mission no longer exists.
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