Don’t agree with the ‘following stupid orders’ part completely, based on my experience.
We had a LCDR (aviator) Conning Officer on a carrier who routinely would confuse port and stbd orders to the helm. The helmsman would always say ‘Orders to the Helm?’ until the LCDR got it right. Finally the CO fired him and banned him from the bridge. I know this because when he got fired, I moved up from radar watch to Conn.
When these stories broke, I never considered that the young Officers came to the ships untrained.
Never.
Our Navy has been around for awhile.
You can do OJT (On the Job Training) for some military jobs and personnel, but new Officers?
Those ships have to be ready to fight when they leave the dock on patrol.
It’s like the Democrats were trying to destroy our Navy.