[A Navy Vet]

"The naval service, by its very nature, thrives on rules and regulations. Above all else, a ship and her crew must promote self-reliance, discipline, and teamwork to maintain effectiveness and ensure mission accomplishment in the unforgiving and uncertain environments of both ocean and fog of battle. This truism of rules and regulation is particularly reflected in the official record maintained by all commissioned U.S. Navy vessels - the deck log."

At least it used to be in my Navy.

[rlmorel]

You know, that is an interesting quote. In reading it, that is an absolutely rock hard, unchanging maxim description that was written in the age of sail, and in a well-functioning navy would be as valid today as it was in the days of John Paul Jones, Farragut, and even Nimitz.

You cannot go wrong with that. Technologies change. But the fundamental mindset is what makes that maxim so timeless. Self Reliance. Everything Has Its Place. The Crew as a team.

And when push comes to shove, and the rubber hits the road, when, as Kipling said, "If you can keep your head when All about you are losing theirs..." that nautical sense of order, of things having their place, of being self reliant and working as team, you are set up to succeed.

On board a ship of any kind, but particularly warships, when a crisis arrives, whether it is the height of a hurricane off Puerto Rico, or Japanese and American ships squaring off in Ironbottom Sound in 1942 at point blank range and firing directly into each other, they could see their shells hitting each other on a flat line, gun-to-hull or bulkhead, punching a hole and disappearing inside of it, all in pitch darkness.

Personal accounts of the battle went like this which is an excerpt from the web page article on warfarehistorynetwork.com:

"...At this point, “Japanese and American ships mingled like minnows in a bucket,” according to naval historian Samuel Eliot Morison. Existing records offer some idea of the confusion that took place in Iron Bottom Sound that night, but giving a conclusive, blow-by-blow description of the fighting is all but impossible. One of the participants said that the fight was like “a barroom brawl after the lights had been shot out.”

That mindset described in that maxim is what keeps you from being sunk in a battle like that, or foundering on a rocky shore in a storm.

Enjoyed that post of yours, as you could likely tell...wisdom from Your Navy. My Navy. My Dad's Navy.

[TokarevM57]

....I am a Navy vet, too, although I am actually retired from the Air Force....during an open house event, I remember visiting a Navy ship and seeing a minority female, very overweight, in her dress whites, a BM2 (Botswains Mate 2nd class) as part of the OOD party, thinking what ever happened to our height and weight standards of our Navy...??