Airdales as much respect as I have for them can go off half cocked. As an airdale ground pounder one of my jobs was to keep the CO from falling on his sword. He should have gotten and listened to experts in the process of navigating chain of command.
There is a venerable message technique - unodir - unless otherwise directed - wherein he alerts the chain of command using easily understood Naval message protocols that he is pursuing a certain course of action. His operational and admin chains of command would be in the “to” or “cc” lines.
He would cite and quote appropriate Naval instructions. It would describe the problem and solution succinctly and in active tense. No passive tense. He would send the msg over an encrypted network with something less than flash priority so it doesn’t cause immediate intervention. He would not be defensive or accusatory.
Then he would proceed until otherwise directed. If he’s already in port he gets a grace period of a day or two to execute his plan unless a flash mission comes into play. By then he’d probably have critical mass in his favor.
If his task force cdr was not on board the Navy provides an escalation process. Out of courtesy he would direct the message to that admiral or at least cc him if he has to go over his head.
If he was responding to an emergency affecting the safety of his own ship, he wouldn’t send an UNODIR. He would just do it, informing his superiors of the situation and requesting assistance or advising of operational impacts, which he was vigorously seeking to minimize. That’s the CO’s job however many O6s and flag officers are on board.
Thank you! That is the key. In the spirit of forage ahead, or move forward or take the lead!
They even write books about this. The one I was given a copy of was "Writing for the Stars." It was about writing official documents to or for General Officers. Actually it was a "loaner" but I neglected to return it.