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.
What’s a swabie?
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.
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.