The “buck” stops with the command. Why do we shield this en competence? it is going to end abruptly
Are you trolling of something? Yes, the captain is in command, but how many captains do you think would be left if every captain was prosecuted for a mistake below them? This looks to be a mistake (per another poster; wrong dialing in of the arresting cable) or just a bad cable. So, if one of the props goes bad (which has happened) the captain should be thrown out of service or in the brig? Lighten up Francis..
It has done been investigated, a report made, and actions taken. It was several factors none of which were the Captains doing. In my time on a carrier we lost planes and one involved an arresting cable. We were never told what happened. Possibly the pilot snagged the wrong one that wasn't set. It was a S-3 Viking and it went off the angle and hung there. Some say the crew had initiated Jettison as it went over unaware they were still on the wire which is why one shot across the surface of the water and the other into the hull of the ship. Both shipmates died. Another shipmate died by being ran over by a F-14 during a routine re-spot. Each deployment we lost crewmembers to either crashes or accidents. We had competent Old School Captains who had enlisted either during Korea or early Nam.
Carrier landings are controlled crashes. It operates in the top limits of man and machines abilities and sometimes beyond them all. There is no way to have a death free or injury free carrier and it function as a carrier. You do all you can to limit possibilities but all are human.
Reading the article it was an honest screw up. If you've ever read a Navy Tech manual or pulled a PMS card for a piece of equipment sometimes the information isn't accurate or difficult to understand. The machine they were servicing is actually a huge hydraulic Ram with IIRC a couple dozen loops of cable on pulleys. This is where schooling helps instead of OJT where you learn by simply experience or the experience of others word of mouth and hope they are right. IOW trying to do it by a tech manual or PMS card.
Budgets have been cut and with that comes school and training cuts as well as manpower cuts and maintenance cuts. I saw this happen under Carter when I was in. A sailor would request a tech school and it be approved all the way up to the Captain and then COMNAVBEANCOUNTER wherever in the Pentagon would cancel the school or not process the persons orders.
No one wants to kill a shipmate. I wasn't in Air Department I was in Engineering meaning propulsion and ships support systems. I works on the carriers air conditioning and refrigeration systems. I also had several secondary jobs such as an engineman on boat crew for the boats used to transport sailors from ship to shore and back for Liberty call. I about got killed several times just on the boat crew and those were accidents. The miracle is more don't die or get seriously hurt. The USS COLE attack was the last major mass causality for a Navy ship and before that IIRC you'd have to look at the three carrier fires in the late 60's all within a few months of each other.
The investigations are to find cause first. Finding cause tells you if it was a human error or a mechanical failure. They have to know so it can be corrected fast as lives depend on it. Hanging every sailor who makes an honest unintentional mistake defeats that purpose and makes such an investigation impossible. If however they discover it was sabotage {it happens} then they will hold a court martial & pack your trash for Kansas.
One carrier is named after a man who as a junior commissioned officer {Ensign} grounded a ship. He was court martialed according to some sources & afterward had to redeem himself. He went on to become Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz WW2 admiral in charge of the Pacific Fleet after Pearl Harbor.
BTW my ship darn near grounded off the coast of Dubrovnik, Yugoslavia on our 77-78 MED Cruise. A storm often referred to as a Alpine Express caught the ship by surprise and we drug anchor. Both anchors. We got out of it thankfully and on our crossing back to the U.S. saw our Captain get his Admiral Star pinned own he damn well had earned. He could have rightfully retired after Nam when he was released from the Hanoi Hilton as one of the longest held but he stayed service in instead.