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***The culmination of the week was “killing off” all the senior officers and NCOs to see how the crew handled things for about 15-20 minutes prior to the abandoning ship drill.

I wonder if this is one of the reasons?

“...During the battle with HMS Shannon in June 1813, (acting Lieutenant) Cox served in charge of gun crews. Captain James Lawrence was wounded, and Lt. Cox took him below deck. However, all other officers had been seriously wounded or killed, so Lawrence’s incapacitation left Cox, the senior non-wounded officer, the ship’s commanding officer. It is unclear whether he realized that he was now the acting commanding officer. While he was below the ship was boarded. Returning from below, Cox and Midshipman Russell saw that two 18-pounder cannon, right aft on the port side, still bore on the enemy ship. Working between them, they managed to fire both. While he was working the guns there was a rush of American seamen bent on escaping the British boarders by going down the main hatch to the safety of the berth deck. Seeing this, Lt. Cox called to them, “You damned cowardly sons of bitches! What are you jumping below for?” When asked by a nearby midshipman if he should stop them by cutting a few down, Cox replied, “No sir, it is of no use.”[2] On the Chesapeake being taken by the British he was made prisoner. After being exchanged he was promoted to third lieutenant.[1]...”

(He was convicted in 1814 by court-martial of dereliction of duty and unofficer-like conduct for abandoning his watch station while under fire. He was discharged from the Navy in disgrace.[1] - cleared later By President Truman in 1952)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Sitgreaves_Cox

And of course the USS Johnson during the Battle of Samar....

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Johnston_(DD-557)

There are other good reasons as well.

While I was doing the Intel Advanced Course we got to spend a day with a Captain who was the former Naval Attache to the Soviet Union.

The morning was lecture about the Soviet Union, its Navy, and the country in general. The high point was about a hundred slides with no military content at all. They were mostly Soviet toilets, roads, and bridges, none of which I would be willing to use. They were a third world country with a first world military. At the time, most of the highway between Moscow and Leningrad was only two lanes. Image I-95 from Washington to New York being mostly two lanes.

We spent the afternoon asking questions. I asked what about the US Navy did the Soviets admire most, annoyed them the most, and what did they fear the most? He said, "Great questions."

The thing they admire the most was our ability to be flexible and innovate. Our invasion of Grenada in the West Indies scared the hell out of them. In less than 48 hours, with NO prior warning, took a Marine Amphibious Unit, loaded out for an exercise with Turkey, turned the ships at sea ninety degrees and made an amphibious assault 48 hours later without a pause. One of my favorite movie lines is from Hunt for Red October and was uttered by Fred Thompson playing the admiral on the carrier, "Son, the Russians don't take a dump without a plan." The fact that we could do something like that, that they knew they couldn't do, just terrorized them.

What annoyed them the most was that most American Naval Officers have never read their Naval Doctrine and those that had read it didn't feel compelled to follow it. The Soviets were obsessive compulsive about plans and following them even when it might not make sense to do so.

He saved the best for last. The thing that scared them the most were the Navy Petty Officers. They knew that if the officers were killed the Petty Officers would and could keep fighting. In the Soviet Navy the enlisted were pretty much helpless without direction from the officers. There were numerous specialties that the enlisted men simply weren't taught. The most famous of which was Navigation.

WWG1WGA

Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)