If I may, “Generals” don’t order ships out to sea...
But I would suppose you have little or no experience in military matters.
1. The ship’s Commanding Officer is responsible for all readiness for deployment, which includes equipment, supplies, crew training, the inspecting everything before things go wrong.
2. If the ship or its complement aren’t ready, he/she is responsible for reporting these problems while getting them rectified.
3. All ship’s Captains are fully aware of these responsibilities before they even take command.
You didn’t read the investigation did you? The three key watchstanders - all female were feuding with each other and apparently wouldn’t work with each other. There were no sailors posted to watch for traffic and the CIC was littered with trash and smelled of piss. The Officer of the Deck panicked and had the ship turn the wrong way, directly into the path of the Chrystal.
Now, even to your civilian non military perspective, does it sound like the Captain was doing his job?
Your question is multifaceted. I took read the full report by the same publisher. Twice. The captain has accepted responsibility as he should. The difference here is criminal culpability. I hadn’t heard of that before. Where were the charges against the Stark CO whose ship was not prepared to defend against Saddams Exocets. Where were the criminal charges against the CO of the Cole whose deck force weren’t empowered to open fire on the speed boat?
I am not defending everything that happened on that ship that night but since I wasn’t there nor do I know any investigators personally so I will read and research but I will not second guess the crew that was there for one primary reason. I have been through it myself, fortunately nobody died, but the resultant investigation was pretty “blame seeking” versus truth seeking.
I stand corrected. But you both knew what I meant.
But I would suppose you have little or no experience in military matters.
And you would both be correct.
However, I did read several in-depth reports on exactly what happened in both of these incidents, and while the CO has the responsibility for what went wrong, it was not his fault.
You didn’t read the investigation did you?
Yes I did. Not just one, but multiple reports.
What reports have you read ?
Now, even to your civilian non military perspective, does it sound like the Captain was doing his job?
Let me ask you this. If the Captain had refused to take the ship out on the mission, due to the fact that it wasn't fully staffed, the crew were overworked and tired, the ship was undergoing repair, various important electronic equipment was unreliable or simply not even working, what do you think would have happened to that Captain ?