There are a lot of unknowns right now and they are things non Navy experienced don't realize. Our military is undermanned and over extended. Was the ship fully manned as it was designed to be? Operating under a manpower shortage can wear a crew down even in port. Been there done that in 1980 in overhaul. A carrier in homeport the usual duty section was six sections we had three.
Our military has been on a deliberate decline going back to the GHWB administration under SECDEF Cheney. During that he had made closure and decommission recommendations to congress we actually under that timeframe lost more ships and crew than six years of Clinton where the next chunk with the help of a GOP two house majority decreased our military readiness even more.We lost an aircraft carrier thanks to policies in the GHW Bush term. By the time it was over the ship was unfit for sea duty. It was only at it's halfway point in it's designed service life.
Then later came the Smirking Chimp who said lets bring Daddy's friends back in. No help ever came Nadda none Zilch!!! Not even after the 9/11 attacks did he go to congress and say increase End Troop Strengths which is who sets how many active and reservists there are in the military. All of this while since 1990 our nation has basically been fighting one and two venue combat operations on a peacetime stand down manpower level. A 20 year Lifer today never knew the Reagan military. A 30 year time in service served a year under it.
Manpower cuts, maintenance and upgrades underfunded, and yes social engineering, have all contributed. We didn't get into this mess solely under Obama even though he was the main one who ordered the final stab in the back with transgender troops.
I served 76-80. People died on my ship. Several pilots died due to crashes, an aircraft re-spot had a man ran over by a F-14, two suicides, many more injured and permanently disabled.
It is going to take time to get things turned around and it's likely going to take asking some retired but still physically able senior NCO and Officers to volunteer to come back in active and restore morale and discipline. Discipline isn't just in a punishment rather in a this is how it is done and tell them why making that procedure the rule not to be short cutted.
Some of us had been for years {back since Poppy Bush} been bookmarking readiness threads that went down the worm hole. There has been almost three decades of warnings no one has acted on.
When I enlisted Admiral Holloway was SECNAV. Morale was the pits as was discipline. In the middle of my enlistment ADM Thomas B. Hayward took over and things changed rather fast. Traditions were restored in a matter of months. One last point. I know FR had a lot of posters who thought Rumsfeld was great. No Rumsfeld helpede to create the Hollow Carter Military and tried to implement some of the same policies again under GW Bush. Rummy was SEC of Defense when I enlisted in 1976.
All that sounds good and may be true but...... there is no excuse for not manning the bridge with adequate personnel. Other posts could be shorted but not command and control of the vessel in the most crowded water way.
Command error if there were not adequate capable persons on the bridge
I was in 78 - 84. A 20% pay-raise turns around morale fairly quick unless you are in a toxic work environment. People in technical billets have the smarts to go doing something else when their obligations to serve are up. There was a purge of military officers during the Obama years. Some of it was for conduct unbecoming, but I suspect much of it was to purge officers who were resistant to wide scale social changes being implemented. Having served in the military, I know there is a trickle down effect. It probably isn't much different than working for a corporation that hires a new CEO and brings in a bunch of new yes people.