Posted on 08/27/2017 12:13:58 PM PDT by NCjim
Congressional investigators and military officials warned repeatedly about overworked sailors, shortened training schedules and budget cuts in the years leading up to two fatal collisions involving U.S. Navy ships, government auditors, lawmakers and Pentagon officials said.
The collisions in June and earlier this week, both Navy guided-missile destroyers operating in the Pacific, left 17 sailors dead or missing.
Three reports in the past two years by the Government Accountability Office, an independent watchdog agency, spell out endemic problems. They found through interviews and Navy studies that U.S. sailors overseas often arrive to their assigned ships without adequate skills and experience. They end up on duty for an average of 108 hours a week, instead of the Navy-standard of 80 hours, the reports found.
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
well, you know, when the military is focused on hormone treatments, accommodative assignments and surgical castrations for a few thousand, it’s hard to find money for things like training tens of thousands
I think a certain number of confused people were drawn to the Military as a way to pay for the reassignment surgery. Two wrongs don’t make a right. Cost associated with surgeries, and a recruit that is not a good fit as their motivation for joining is misguided.
This is the reason I support this policy change.
It is a case of let’s be practical here. What is the goal of the military? Oh sorry, trying to argue logic with a liberal. Pointless.
Not to argue, but that swabie may not have been in Zero’s Navy with the already extreme workload made still more extreme.
I relate to all he said as that is pretty much my experience with radar and container ships. (Although I once saw such a ship dip a rail - as impossible as it sounds to avoid ripping up some guy’s gillnet.)
As for alarms - have you ever slept through an alarm in the morning? No different at sea. Sometimes no amount of noise will wake you - I slept for 6 months 3 feet from a roaring 671 diesel with just 3/8 plywood separating me from it - was noisy and thought of wearing ear protection, but after a few days of fishing I never heard it again.
You can only call the Capt if every one is awake, alarms or no, navy demands/regs or not.
I think if your name is John Smith you literally, should not be allowed to Captain a boat
Aye! Right?
Its the cross between the keystone cop and McHale’s navy, with the three stooges in command.
Obama’s Navy. Meanwhile sequester remains in place.
There is a report on the last collision that the female officer who was in charge of damage control did not even go to the site of the damage but did her “leadership” from the bridge via the intercom. Normally that officer should be in the area damaged and ready to direct and assist any way he can, including heavy lifting and whatever else needs to be done. PC strikes and kills again.
This story is just more BS. It’s all about the cover up, that cyber weapons make our Navy impotent.
They can’t admit it and likely can’t do anything about it (for now).
What’s a swabie?
“Pretty pins”
There’s a great side-by-side photo of Ike wearing five stars and one row of ribbons next to some time-serving 4star with ribbons up to his chin.
Says a lot about what has changed.
navy guy
Ok, I looked it up. Don’t think Richard was a swabbie. :-) Quoting him:
“Graduated from Oregon State University in 1984 with a BS in Business Administration, and two minor courses of study: mathematics / computer science, and naval science. I was a member of the NROTC unit.
I was commissioned in the U.S. Navy as a Surface Warfare Officer (SWO) immediately upon graduation from OSU. After some 8 months attending various schools in San Diego, CA, I traveled off to Yokosuka, Japan to join my first ship, the USS REEVES (CG-24), where I served from 1984-1987 as the Assistant Missiles Officer, First Lieutenant, and then finally, Electrical Officer.
After those first three years in Japan, I crossed the pier for another two years, joining the U.S. SEVENTH FLEET embarked aboard USS BLUE RIDGE (LCC-19). From 1988 – 1989, I was both the Assistant Fleet Scheduling Officer and the Assistant Logistics Officer. I managed a fuel budget of $180 million.
I left Japan after those two tours over five years and headed to Monterey, California, where I studied immersion French at the Defense Language Institute for the latter half of 1989. Upon successful completion of the course, I headed to Toulon, France, where from late 1989 – early 1992, I took up duties an exchange officer with the French Navy: first aboard the FNS COLBERT (C 611), and later, the FNS DUQUESNE (D 603), both as the Navigator.
Ok, I see. Thought Swabbie was a low rank.
“”Congressional investigators and military officials warned repeatedly about overworked sailors””
Maybe the excuse of being overworked might work regarding the USS McCain, but it does not apply to the USS Fitzgerald.
The Fitzgerald had been in port at Yokosuka for some weeks. The Fitzgerald left Yokosuka anchorage at 23:00 and collided with the ACX Crystal 2 1/2 hours later at o1:30.
The Navy is like most government bureaucracies. Make a terrible mistake and then say they need more money to do better in the future.
All navy guys are swabbies EM or Officer, IMHO
The Navy bought into this insanity by setting the crew for the LCS at 40. That’s at least 80 people shy of what is required. They had to gradually up the crew as fatigue, accidents, and machinery breakage continued to soar. The instant mission module design never worked, either. They now two-crew each LCS, like boomers. The LCSes are so apt to break/sink that they simply fly crews on and off instead of making the ships return to port (most were breaking-down on the way). The plan was to build 72. Then 52. Then 42. Now, after seven have been built, the entire class may be scrapped. Oy.
“... the entire class may be scrapped. Oy.”
Hopefully, followed by the F-35 ...
It’s not that they didn’t detect the ships before the collisions. It’s that the evasive maneuvers were inappropriate to the situation and in the first instance increased the likelihood of collision. The watch is was inadequately manned and the bridge crew, was inefficient at their jobs.
Did you read post 25?
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