Posted on 01/17/2018 10:28:28 AM PST by rktman
It’s been quite a while now since two collisions in the western Pacific involving US Navy vessels took the lives of a total of 17 sailors, injuring many others and significantly damaging their ships. The investigations being conducted by the military are wrapping up and charges have been filed against a number of senior personnel, including some which caught me totally by surprise. The Associated Press reports that a total of five officers, including the commanding officers of both the destroyers USS Fitzgerald and USS John S. McCain, are being charged with negligent homicide in the deaths of the sailors.
(Excerpt) Read more at hotair.com ...
Figures, he'd be involved in some way.
With any luck they will find that a duplicate key to the ward room icebox did exist.
Well he has been known to destroy naval equipment. ;-)
Those strawberries WERE stolen, I KNOW it!
“But is homicide of any sort (even negligent) an appropriate charge here?”
It appears that we don’t yet know what the officers were actually DOING, but if men died because of their negligence, I have no problem with the charges.
IMO - to treat these “accidents” with any less seriousness would only serve to compound the negligence.
“””It appears that we don’t yet know what the officers were actually DOING,”””
The Oct 2017 report is quite complete-—
http://s3.amazonaws.com/CHINFO/USS+Fitzgerald+and+USS+John+S+McCain+Collision+Reports.pdf
In the case of the McCain, the CO was on the bridge and helped make a mess.
In the case of the Fitzgerald, the CO was in his ‘in port’ cabin and not in his ‘at sea’ cabin.
On another site I read-—
“””As USS Fitzgerald approached the point of collision, Bridge and CIC watchstanders were poorly monitoring surface traffic and as a result were unaware of multiple contacts within ten miles of the ship. Shortly after 0100, a crossing situation developed between USS Fitzgerald and three large on-coming merchant vessels, all of which were transmitting on AIS. The merchant ships were traveling in close proximity to each other on similar courses with two overtaking the third. The OOD decided to maintain course and speed, predicting that USS Fitzgerald would cross 1500 yards ahead of what she recognized as a crossing vessel with the right of way, and began to prepare a contact report to inform the CO”””
This is on page 36 of this report-—
http://s3.amazonaws.com/CHINFO/Comprehensive+Review_Final.pdf
Is the reason for there being some obscurity is the fact the OOD on the Fitzgerald is a she?
Face palm! Hadn’t heard that before. Not the Navy I was in.
McCain still killing US Servicemen
The wretched senator has nothing to do with this.
‘K.
This report is the first I've seen that actually refers to the sex of the OOD. Normally when writing such reports, great lengths are taken to avoid introducing bias, but this is much more candid.
Purely as an academic exercise in navigation, it would've been interesting to be a fly on the wall, on that bridge. The port wall, of course.
In 2003, SWOSDOC (Surface Warfare Officers Course) was shuttered, largely for financial reasons,,,,,,,,
officers went directly from commissioning sources to their ships with only a packet of computer disks........
Now it was incumbent on the ship’s CO to replace a year’s worth of intensive dawn-to-dusk training, in addition to his or her other considerable responsibilities
Bringing back the SWOSDOC would be a good start
If I was council for the defense, I would hang my hat on it.
The Navy it self was/is a major contributor to the accident
Thanks!
Unexpected? Absolutely not.
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