Posted on 03/15/2010 4:52:19 PM PDT by naturalman1975
A Royal Navy commander crashed his nuclear-powered submarine into a shallow pinnacle he failed to spot on navigation charts, a court martial heard today.
Commanding officer Commander Steven Drysdale, officer of the watch Lieutenant Commander Andrew Cutler and navigation officer Lieutenant Lee Blair all admitted an offence of neglecting to perform their duty at a previous hearing.
The court martial at Portsmouth Naval Base was told that the charge relates to the grounding of HMS Superb as it travelled through the Red Sea on May 26 2008.
Captain Stuart Crozier, prosecuting, told the hearing that the submarine had been suffering from technical problems, causing it to lose speed.
He said there was pressure on Drysdale to ensure the submarine arrived in the Gulf on time for planned operations.
Captain Crozier said Drysdale ordered a new route to be plotted which cut about four miles off the previous route.
He also ordered the submarine to dive at a deeper depth where there was colder water, allowing the submarine to travel faster.
The new route was to be travelled at a depth of 250 metres rather than the planned depth of 100 metres.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
As naught may outrun the destroyer
So it is with the law and its grip
For the strength of a ship is the Service
And the strength of the Service the ship
Take heed what you say of your seniors
Be your words spoken softly or plain
Let a bird of the air tell the matter
And so shall ye hear it again
If you labour from morn until even
And meet with reproof for your toil
'Tis well, that the gun may be humbled
The compressor must check the recoil
On the strength of one link in the cable
Dependeth the might of the chain
Who knows when thou may'st be tested?
So live that thou bearest the strain!
When a ship that is tired returneth
With the signs of the seas showing plain
Men place her in dock for a season
And her speed she reneweth again
So shall ye, if perchance ye grow weary
In the uttermost parts of the sea
Pray for leave, for the good of the Service
As much and as oft as may be
Count not upon certain promotion
But rather to gain it aspire
Though the sightline may end on the target
There cometh perchance the miss-fire
Can'st follow the track of the dolphin?
Or tell where the sea swallows roam?
Where Leviathan taketh his pastime?
What ocean he calleth his own?
So it is with the words of the rulers
And the orders these words shall convey
Every law is naught beside this one
Thou shalt not criticise, but Obey
Say the wise: How may I know their purpose?
Then acts without wherefore or why
Stays the fool but one moment to question
And the chance of his life passes by
If ye win through an African jungle
Unmentioned at home in the press
Heed it not. No man seeth the piston
But it driveth the ship none the less
Do they growl? it is well. Be thou silent
If the work goeth forward amain
Lo! the gun throws the shot to a hair's breadth
And shouteth, yet none shall complain
Do they growl, and the work be retarded?
It is ill, be whatever their rank
The half-loaded gun also shouteth
But can she pierce target with blank?
Doth the paintwork make war with the funnels
And the deck to the cannons complain?
Nay, they know that some soap and fresh water
Unites them as brothers again
So ye, being heads of departments
Do you growl with a smile on your lip
Lest ye strive and in anger be parted
And lessen the might of your ship
Dost deem that thy vessel needs gilding
And the dockyard forbears to supply?
Put thy hand in thy pocket and gild her -
There are those who have risen thereby
Dost think in a moment of anger
'Tis well with thy seniors to fight?
They prosper, who burn in the morning
The letters they wrote overnight
For many are shelved and forgotten
With nothing to thank for their fate
But that on a half sheet of foolscap
A fool "Had the honour to state."
Should the fairway be crowded with shipping
Beating homeward the harbour to win
It is meet that lest any should suffer
The steamers pass cautiously in
So thou, when thou nearest promotion
And the peak that is gilded is nigh
Give heed to words and thine actions
Lest others be wearied thereby
It is ill for the winners to worry
Take thy fate as it comes, with a smile
And when thou art safe in the harbour
They may envy, but will not revile
Uncharted the rocks that surround thee
Take heed that the channels thou learn
Lest thy name serve to buoy for another
That shoal the "Court-Martial Return"
Though a Harveyised belt may protect her
The ship bears the scar on her side;'
'Tis well if the Court should acquit thee -
But 'twere best had'st thou never been tried
As the wave washes clear at the hawse pipe
Washes aft, and is lost in the wake
So shalt thou drop astern all unheeded
Such time as these laws ye forsake
Take heed in your manner of speaking
That the language ye use may be sound
In the list of the words of your choosing
"Impossible" may not be found
Now these are the Laws of the Navy
And many and mighty are they
But the hull and the deck and the keel
And the truck of the law is - OBEY.
I hate to see any of them get hammered by the brass.
Kipling?
Bump!
First stanza:
Now this is the Law of the Jungle - as old and as true as the sky
And the Wolf that shall keep it may prosper, but the Wolf that shall break it must die
As the creeper that girdles the tree-trunk the Law runneth forward and back -
For the strength of the Pack is the Wolf, and the strength of the Wolf is the Pack.
You’ll have an opportunity to hire CDR Steven Drysdale in the very near future.
Thank you. He did a good job retaining the “kiplingesque” meter.
Don't know. Never Kippled.
Don’t Ask.
Don’t Tell.
The sub did not come to a complete stop when it struck the pinnacle. I suppose now the pinnacle is much shorter or gone? :-)
Also, I wonder why these planned courses aren’t double checked by computer. If the computer knows there is an obstacle where the sub has been directed to go, it can warn the captain well before there is a disaster.
Not even in Fantasyland.
They didn't stop to wonder why the original route had the extra four miles of travel and the shallower depth? That's like turning unconstitutional authority over to an occupant of our White House or to the Speaker without thinking about why we have a written constitution with enumerated powers.
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