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 ...
Thanks for the info....
This is why there are felonies and misdemeanors.
Smoking = misdemeanor
Dangerous storage = felony.
The smokers made an error in judgment by smoking where it is not allowed but should have been safe.
The idiot that incorrectly stored flammables has displayed that he cannot perform the most fundamental aspects of his job.
This is like blaming a smoker for starting a fire on the floor of a welding shop. If a cigarette could start the fire a fire was going to start.
I have known Dobes since he was a junior officer. Very sharp, talented, and personable. His is a Hornet driver with a string of exemplary assignments including a very successful squadron command tour. However, this went down on his watch, so out he goes.
ping
Again, it is attention to the small things that would make it inconceivable to violate the larger things.
The smoking in an unauthorized area is a huge indicator.
To follow your logic then rather than the smoker they need to start looking for the guy that was chewing gum on line.
That is where things really started breaking down.
I would say that you’re not following my logic at all.
Indeed?
You seem to consider smoking in a no smoking area more egregious than storing flammables in a no flammables area by virtue that the smoking started the breakdown in discipline. I am simply taking it a step further in that chewing gum on line precipitated smoking in no smoking areas. Chewing gum on line actually precipitated the breakdown in discipline.
Ergo, chewing gum on line caused the fire.
Make sense now?
...or skidmarks in the sky.
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What I can't figure out is why the oil burned. I'm serious. Evidently when the EPA began forcing the end of R-11 and R-12 the replacement refrigerant must not have used the same oil and also the new refrigerant requireda lot more oil. I worked AC&R on the ship as well as did a 9 month T.A.D. to Fire Department. Refrigerant oil for our units was safe and stowed in our shop. We had maybe 20 gallons of it at the most. Ultimately improper storage caused the fire. If a smoke hadn't started it then it was one waiting to happen.
Looks like maintenance and readiness wise our Navy began declining in late 1989 and is still not headed toward recovery. This is due in part because leadership from the LBJ, and Ford years has not changed as such or rather it's the same morons names who keep popping up. The Navy needs a Hildigo {sp} back as SECNAV. He was the man who began the fixing what Ford and Mr Peanut's people messed up although Hildigo was a late in MR Peanuts term appointment. The only thing Carter did right IMO.
I shudder to think what the investigators found once they started digging into ships records and interviewing people because as another poster pointed out, this kind of behavior is systematic. If they screwed up this bad there, there were probably a LOT of other screwups going on all over that ship which is NOT something you want to think about on a nuclear powered vessel.
You're right about the CHENG and DCA, but the ultimate butcher's bill for this is going to be a long time settling and could extend as far up as it does down. This is the Navy's version of the unauthorized, accidental cruise missile flight.
When nukes are involved, and here we have both — weapons and nuclear power — there is absolutely no room at all for this kind of crap.
...skidmarks in the sky.
Or the USAF and USA.
Rickover turns over in his grave. The man set high standards for the nuke Navy to preserve it's integrity and demanded they be followed. Heck he was still active when I was in but I was a conventional Machinist Mate.
I'll note something else too. Because of our stricter standards pre-1989 smoking as such wasn't a major cause of shipboard fires. We also had a lot more places smoking was usually allowed. It was just common sense. Swab fires were most common fire cause, electrical problems {I saw a switchboard melt due to DFT feeedline rupture}, and next came improper storage leading usually to spontaneous combustion.
A buddy and I found a bad fire one night off the hanger bay in the yards. A storeroom of cardboard, rags etc in a locked space. Even with a visible location it had a good start I'd say about 30-60 minutes as heat was already transferring up to the 02 level. I couldn't find a phone so I ran to the QD and called it on the 1MC from there. I wasn't on duty for that one so I suited up and went as an OBA investigator and we started doing compartment deck and bulkheads cool downs. First was the Barber Shop Big Evil Grin of Vengeance :>} Minimal Damage & the Barber Shop was the most effected damage wise.
The duty team had it out in about an hour or two including overhaul. It was the worse fire I saw. The next bad one came a few years later long after I was out. #6 pumproom blew up. That was a Grape space. I do remember this much. In the late 70's even with good ventilation down there you could still smell it in the aft chow line.
The Navy and congress better get on the stick and get serious about general maintenance and readiness. Readiness includes putting stuff where it darn well belongs. Not doing so cost us a conventional carrier in 1990's two carriers younger than the Kitty Hawk and it also later cost us JFK due to the same thing. I don't see how the KW and Big E have made it so long.
There is nothing more important on any ship than Damage Control. Live by it's rules and your chances of surviving even a mass cauuality are fairly good.
No! Why not make the responsible party pay for the damage? It was the person who started the fire, not these men who should have paid. What a horrible thing to do to loyal career officers!
Keelhaul ‘em? You mean the smoker, I hope. Because it seems that these guys didn’t deserve to lose their command for someone elses folly. Of course, keelhauling on a carrier would be a death sentence.
Because several persons of responsibility directly below them did not do their job. The Captian i9s responsible for the ship. The Executive Officer used to be the one who among other things made certain the ship was kept clean or else. They won't be the only officers relieved of duty. The Chief Engineer and the Damage Control Assistant along with the ships safety officer likely just reached career dead ends as well.
The shop involved should have secured their gear. The shop LPO should have seen to it. The division and Auxiliaries Officer should have checked their spaces at least a few times per week. The ships Fire Department should have been doing safety and fire hazard walk thorough also. If I understand it right the carriers now have a full time Fire Department that are supposed to do this. These guys are specifically assigned to the Fire Department and do not have any duties in their division that assigned them their temporally.
When I was in late 1970's that duty fell upon the Hull Technicians and weapons department below deck at sea. The change over to a full time Fire Department was just beginning in 1979. That was a wise move in my opinion because otherwise critical to ships mission persons as in most of R-division could have been significantly wiped out in a major fire.
Thanks for your input. I’m a Navy brat, and a Army vet. I still think that these officers shouldn’t have been relieved. All it atkes is one knucklehead to decide to take a chance at not getting caught lighting up. Reprimands for the down chain, and reductions where appropriate.
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