Posted on 07/31/2008 5:38:17 AM PDT by xzins
SAN DIEGO, July 31 (UPI) -- A $70 million fire on the nuclear-powered U.S. aircraft carrier George Washington left its top two officers stripped of their duties, officials said Wednesday.
Adm. Robert F. Willard, commander of the Navy's Pacific Fleet, directed the skipper, Capt. David C. Cykhoff, and his executive officer, Capt. David M. Dober, be relieved of their command, Navy Times reported.
Dykhoff was fired for "loss of confidence in his ability to command and his failure to meet mission requirements and readiness standards," Navy officials said in a statement. Dober was ousted for "substandard performance."
Two months ago, while the George Washington was at sea, a fire burned through 80 spaces aboard the ship. An investigation revealed the fire was started when unauthorized smoking ignited improperly stowed flammables nearby, the Times said.
Now docked in San Diego, the carrier is to leave for Japan Aug. 21.
(Excerpt) Read more at upi.com ...
...or cause his promotion. That's how it works.
agreed! The breakdown in discipline in this case is systemic. The flamables should be constantly secured, the lack of training that allowed 80 spaces to burn.
59,953 for a O-6 at 23. Source: http://www.defenselink.mil/militarypay/mpcalcs/Calculators/FinalPayHigh3.aspx?calcType=final
After 30 years service you can retire with 75% of your monthly pay and full medical for life. Now the basic pay for an O-6 is currently about $9550.00 a month. So 75% of that would be about $6,700.00 a month. Not too bad.
maybe mayor bloomberg should be the captain of that ship. he certainly knows how to snuff out smokers...
bingo.
It's better to be feared than loved....... always.
Love is held by a chain of obligation which, men being selfish is broken whenever is serves their purpose.
While fear is maintained by a dread of punishment that never fails.
I liked that Machiavelli guy.... nice book.
There are indeed designated smoking areas and the “smoking light” is on or off depending on conditions aboard.
In the neighborhood of what I figured.
If an 0-4 is at about the 12 year mark, 0-5 is at the 16 year mark, then 0-6 should be at about 20, shouldn’t it?
O-6 due course in the Army is 22.
I think the Navy is a bit faster. Also if someone is commanding a carrier I would suspect he migh have hit BZ at least one. But I’m just a medical puke. What do I know?
They should have been zig-zagging!
Good info. One would think that only the elite get to command carriers.
Thank you for your insight.
I think the worst part, as Ronin mentioned, is that it is a serious blow, whether deserved or not, to US Navy reputation in the world.
For better or worse, the U.S. military exists as a force for deterrence. That deterrence is partly due to the technical and numerical superiority of our weapons systems, but mostly its due to the percieved effectiveness of the men and women operating them and the leadership in place to keep that effectiveness at a high level.
This incident calls that effectiveness into question to some degree, which is unfortunate. Every naval vessel is important, but this is one of the pinnacles of the U.S. Navy. A potential adversary is going to look at this incident and consider - if a carrier is this poorly managed, then maybe we won’t fair so badly against a smaller vessel. That kind of thinking by our enemies is dangerous to us and the world.
That wouldn’t have been General “gunfighter” “6 mile run everyday” Emerson would it of the 2nd Infantry?
No. It was a USAF general whose name I’ve forgotten.
Or the dumbshit possibly non-smoker from stowing material incorrectly. If he had done his job the smoker could not have started the fire.
If that's true, then there is plenty of blame to go around. When the USS Lincoln was in drydock last time, it went over schedule and a good part of the work supposedly done by contractors had to be redone by sailors aboard her because it, in fact, had been done incorrectly or not done at all!
Fixed it for you.
Nope. The smoking is the critical piece of evidence here.
If they won’t obey in the very small things — like smoking — then there are far larger problems in other places.
Nope. The idiots that incorrectly stowed the materials could have incorrectly stowed the same materials in the smoking area.
It is fun to blame the smokers though so carry on.
It’s not about the smokers.
It’s about disobeying in the small things.
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