“Even if he and the XO were the only competent persons to man the bridge. they don’t call it “Port and Starboard” for nothing!”
Well, I think you’ve arrived at the core of the matter. If the safety of the ship required the CO and XO to stand OOD on port and starboard, then that’s what they should have done.
And if they needed to send the BMOW to go down and drag cooks and yeomen out of their racks to stand lookout, well, when I was one of Remington’s Raiders I stood a lot of deck and engineering watches.
As I posted shortly after the event, It is my professional opinion (I hold a Coast Guard Masters License) The problem is systemic through out the navy. My last vessel was a FSV or Fast Service Vessel capable of carrying 200 tons of cargo on the deck,65 passengers and large quantities of fuel and water at speeds up to 28 knots. Normally I was the sole occupant of the wheel house. My duties included navigation, radar watch, communication/traffic control and vessel handling. I was also responsible for crew training and supplies. I never felt like I was overwhelmed because I had ability and need to understand and perform all duties with little help. It made me aware of the responsibility and helped me become more aware of our surroundings.
The bottom line was that I did not have to rely on 8 to 10 people in a chain of command to take evasive action in the event of a problem situation. My feeling has always been that a large division of responsibility insures that a certain amount of responsibility is lost.