Posted on 08/28/2017 8:51:54 AM PDT by Oldpuppymax
“Next was the USS FITZGERALD (DDG-62). She was hit by a merchant ship the size of a warehouse. This time it was on the opposite side and the merchant ship kept going! Nothing was reported for hours! “
I wonder if these collisions aren’t actually done on purpose. As a Navy vet, I can’t believe these ship did not have people on watch, especially someone manning the ship’s radar.
Dude, the title is “Officer of the Deck,” not “Officer of the Day.”
I retired in 1999, and that’s not something I will ever forget, if I live to be a hundred. I find it hard to believe that you were ever in the U.S. Navy.
“With crews that size, there were usually positions for about 12-15 people on the bridge.”
Nonsense. Helm, Lee Helm, phone talker, QM, OOD, JOOD.
My guess is the sailor with the binoculars said “she’s going to hit us” and the OOD spent the remainder of the time berating the sailor about the inappropriateness of assigning a gender to a ship.
he must have been in during 1812
Yea, I question this guys cred. I have never been in the Navy I knew the correct title. This person got it wrong TWICE.
Doesn’t it trouble anyone and give you pause when you consider that all of the “accidents” occurred with ships not only in the 7th Fleet, but also in the same destroyer squadron?
There’s another thread going about these wrecks.
The original article makes the claim that junior Officers arrive at their first ship virtually untrained for their duties.
The Captain of the ship is expected to train them.
I researched institutional training versus unit training when I was in the Army.
Prior to WWII, the majority of the training a Soldier received was from the unit he was assigned to.
There are good points and bad points for both types of training.
The difference with the Navy, as I see it, is that we are talking about Officers and not new Enlisted Sailors. That sets up a whole load of problems.
The young Officers expect their orders to be followed, but they may not be trained or experienced enough.
The Enlisted Sailors might know more which is going to lead to orders not being followed and then all discipline breaks down.
Not good.
Don’t send Ensigns out to ships who aren’t at least minimally trained.
I’m a landlubber, but even I know that Navy ships have to be prepared to fight, win and survive as soon as they leave the dock.
Find the money.
I realize this could be considered sarcastic BUT
in todays world one would never know...HA HA
I saw the list and Most were ETs & ICs with a 1st class or two in the mix.
I had heard after the Westchester County incident that the berthing arrangements were changed so a whole division wouldn’t get wiped out at the same time.
When I was on that class of T Chiefs had their own mess,
1st class had their own compartment, we had our own compartment (2nd Class - Operations Div) had about 8 in it ..RM2s, ET2s, RD2s, and we opened into the tank deck.
Have a read here:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3581184/posts
From the article:
“In 2003, SWOSDOC was shuttered, largely for financial reasons,,,,,,,,
officers went directly from commissioning sources to their ships with only a packet of computer disks........
Now it was incumbent on the ship’s CO to replace a year’s worth of intensive dawn-to-dusk training, in addition to his or her other considerable responsibilities”.
Has anyone mentioned yet this guy is a poser who doesn’t know what the eff he’s talking about?
Officer of the Deck. OOD.
You make some interesting comments but your OP is marred by fundamental errors as pointed out by others.
Don’t make long comments about that which you have no knowledge of.
I did six trips across the Pacific on MSTS before I was a teenager in the 1950s.
I know what an officer of the deck is.
Ya, and if you make that mistake again, I’ll shove you out of one of those little windows.....
Agree. I think this whole article is fictional nonsense.
When I was one the Enterprise we first class had a corner of a very large berthing area.
Seems to me that with just one of these collisions, every Command at sea would say to themselves, “Well that damn sure ain’t gonna happen to me!”.
And then take the actions and training necessary to ensure it doesn’t happen.
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