Yeh. Well, it is called sea duty. My LST was stationed in Yokosuka but saw Vietnam a lot more than homeport over three campaigns down south. The Navy decided the war was over at the end of 1970, so we went from 160 shipmates to 120 when I left, I stood a lot of one in three watches, meaning one night in the rack and one 24 hour day over three days. The engine rooms were worse off standing port and starboard for a couple months with six hours on and six off.
By the way explain to me how fighting a war ia not an unrelenting demand?
Incompetent leadership and training lead to accidents are more than lack of sleep.
16 hr shifts were not uncommon to me
Todays navy is charmin soft.
I was in in the early 90’s and it feels like 75 years ago. As a BT we spent many 24 hour unplanned shifts In and out of port replacing piping or working on tagged out equipment. We didn’t get underway if we didn’t have efficiently operating boilers. The Navy would have had to increase our staffing 10 fold if they focused on getting us more sleep.
Port and Starboard 6 on 6 off for 2 years on my FFG in the 90s....best damn ASW crew in the PAC
Its the new well rested navy that takes lots of time - not rested enough? Stay in your bunk until you feel well rested - some one else can pick up your duty station.
Well rested, woke, transgender loving, fagot feeling military will be wiped out before they even get started in a modern war. How well and long would they stand up, were they fighting in Ukraine?
Sailors have become too bloody soft. It should be watch on watch and give ‘em a half gill of rum every day. that’ll toughen ‘em up.
I don't usually laugh out loud reading news articles but this is one of the funniest things ever printed.
Those collisions weren’t the first ones caused by fatigue and lack of sleep among watchstanders.
Garbage. Neither of those collisions was caused by any such thing. They were products of poor training and lack of communication on the Fitzgerald and disastrous software patches installed aboard the McCain before she set sail for one of the most congested sea lanes in the world. This sort of candy-coating on the part of command is an effort to avoid the problem, not fix it. Reinstating SWO school and returning training hours wasted on social engineering to actual operational training are apparently too difficult to accomplish. Naptimes for the Navy is a bandaid over arterial bleeding. IMHO.
This is a bunch of CYA. When I was an Electrician’s Mate on a destroyer ‘69-71’ most of the crew stood 4 and 8s for weeks. The ship never ran into anything.
A crew that cannot sustain a Port and Starboard watch schedule and still keep up on maintenance, cannot fight.
What, instead of 14-16 hour shifts, they moving to 12 hour shifts? /s
"It is the responsibility of every sailor to take advantage of sleep opportunities. Sailors who are provided with protected sleep periods but deliberately use them for other purposes are subjecting themselves, their shipmates and their ship to unnecessary risks,” the instruction states."
The above is from NSNI site. What a load of feel good crap. Right, the sailors are not using their off-duty time to sleep. Guess what? They also need to eat, chit/shower/and chave. Then stand a watch for 4 hours at 0-dark thirty and then start a new day at 0600 depending on rating.
While sailors work more at sea than most know, this is not about the behavior of the crew. IT IS ABOUT LACKING THE TIME FOR PROPER TRAINING. That is why the Fitzgerald and McCain ran into cumbersome huge ships. Recently, a submarine ran aground from the same lack of training.
I'm surprise this article doesn't mention how many Captains, XO's, and CPO of Commands have been fired. After the one or two of the collisions, the CiC of the Pacific Fleet was fired. Looks like the Navy is trying to CYA according to this article.
My story about sleep deprivation: Enlisted at the old age of 25 (75-86). I worked the flight deck sometimes 14 hours. Was lucky to get a bologna sandwich in the island for dinner. Once relieved, I had maybe 3-4 hours for sleep and other hygiene requirements. 0000-time for a roving patrol. If lucky, I didn't get that watch until 0400. Then back to the flight deck. It was my job and I sucked it up.
I don't know what the answer is. However, I do read that Navy is having difficulty recruiting which amounts to less sailors for the same amount of ships. I also believe that the Navy like other branches are focused too much on diversity and women that it has weakened morale and specifically training. Example: The female OOD of the Fitz was in a pissing contest with the female commander of Combat Information Center (CIC) that they both failed their own watch duties.
This is not my Navy I proudly served for 11 years.
get the women off the attack ships and readiness, morale and fighting capability will soar.
Reading the linked article just makes me want to spit.
This is all just good and fine for a civilian corporation. It is idiocy for warfighting, IMO.
Ping
Just when you think that stupidity is at an all-time high, this happens...🙄
What’s the problem? Don’t they drive the ship for 12 hours then shut it down and then crew sleeps for the other 12 hours? /S
Say what you will but 20 years of engine room service taught me a few things about leadership. First of all I went above and beyond to protect those who worked for me. That meant that while we were only staffed for 4/8 watch standing nothing required that we also work an 8 hour day. I had watch standers do routine maintenance, cleaning, and painting. When they were off they were off. Only time we had a full crew in the engine room was during drills and gq events that generally happened once a month or so. I got more done that way than having overly worn out crew members due to lack of rest. I didn’t care what they did when off but most either slept or rested in other ways. It wasn’t about being macho or how tough I could make them...it was about taking care of them so they were available when needed. Sometimes we did have to work long hours to fix things but those times were not the norm.
All this talk from the navy is cya stuff. Good leaders take care of their subordinates.