[AncientAirs]

"The investigation into the incident found that 'several critical navigational and voyage planning procedures were not being implemented aboard San Francisco.'

'By not ensuring these standard procedures were followed, Mooney hazarded his vessel,' the statement said."

I was surprised that any one man (here Cmdr Mooney) could waive SOPs. That there would not be some sort of redundant controls to immediately notify higher ups of skipped SOPs that might endanger the vessel. After all, this is a nuclear attack vessel.

Thanks.

[Shellback Chuck]

I was on a ship once that was pulling a hydrophone array off the coast of Norway. The captain (or master in this case) spent about an hour bickering with the shore facility on a new heading due to heavy seas. In the course of all his griping we inadvertently left our OPAREA and then lost our array on the shallow ocean floor.

So in answer to your question, Yes it is possible for a captain to circumvent SOP through negligence, accident or just stupidity. But he will be held accountable as he is the ultimate authority on the vessel.

[exnavy]

Actually there is a lot of "discretionary" parts to SOP on any naval vessel, if nothing goes wrong, no problem. One little screw up and the captain is ultimately responsible.