“Both of these accidents were preventable and the respective investigations found multiple failures by watch standers that contributed to the incidents, said Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Adm. John Richardson.
Which is PRECISELY what sane people on this site, especially the salty ones, were saying from the very beginning.
But for some reason, some folks must, must attached a conspiracy theory to everything that does not fit their preconceived notions.
My theory, as a licensed captain for the past 40 years, is that their are too many people on the bridge and in the operations command chain and they become a distraction. On commercial vessels the captain is the steersman, throttle man, navigator and radar observer. He also is the sole lookout, operates the radio and has responsibility for all actions of his crew. On a typical navel vessel their are 6 to 10 people ( McCain had 12) performing the same task and reporting up the chain to a commander who makes decisions to maneuver down through the chain. What could possibly go wrong? I operated many types of oilfield support vessels in all weather and high traffic areas. You must have a comprehensive situational awareness and be able to react to unusual situations in seconds. My opinion is that reaction time and judgement is compromised through the military mind set. When seconds count you cannot wait for someone to come on the bridge, acquire situational awareness and make a judgement call to tell a group of sailors to turn the helm and reverse one or more throttles. That sets up a cluster that might be to late anyway. I have never had a problem spotting a navel vessel day or night. They all have the same requirement for running lights that commercial vessels and operate under the same COLREGS (Rules of the Road).