Dude did you read the article? The actions after the crash to keep that ship from sinking were nothing short of heroic. Those algebra notations were used by the damage control officer to keep the frigging ship from sinking. When stuff failed they resorted to mark1 bucket line to,again, keep the ship afloat. As for PMS, to cite that as the end all protector of systems is so naive and yes, I have filled out my share of the required maintenance logs. The article clearly states they had unattended system failures that didn’t get repaired but the op tempo was paramount. Been there done that. Yes, critical failures by many in chain of command but to hold them criminally responsible is quite another thing. I guess one has to have gone through collisions and in my case underwater groundings to appreciate the difference between those who caused it and those who fixed it and saved the ship. That article is a celebration of heroic kids and adults who, in the moment it mattered stood up and saved their shipmates and ship.
Yes, the actions taken after collision were heroic.
But the fact the DC pumps didn’t work was negligence.
By asking the simple question: When was it discovered and documented they did not work?...you will know who is responsible.
I do not believe ComSeventhFleet would order a ship to sea with bad pumps. I will never believe that. That vessel is not ready, by any and every definition.
And I have quite a bit of time at sea in Pacflt.
“Now they faced a choice. Naval training demanded that they seal the escape hatch to prevent water from flooding the rest of the ship. But they knew that bolting it down would consign any sailors still alive to death.
Vaughan and Tapia hesitated. They agreed to wait a few seconds more for survivors. Tapia leaned down into the vanishing inches of air left in Berthing 2.
“Come to the sound of my voice,” he shouted.”
What a decision these two young sailors had to make.
Back in the day, when I was working for the Navy (civilian) they did D-SOTs... Daily Systems Operational Tests. Critical systems (eg. missile systems etc.) were tested every single day. If they’re still doing anything like that they would have known they had some significant deficiencies that increased risk in continuing to operate the ship. Who ever okay’d that - said go anyway - they bear a lot of responsibility.