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Navy commander relieved of command after running ship aground
San Diego Union-Tribune ^ | 28 Jul 08 | Steve Liewer

Posted on 07/28/2008 8:19:12 PM PDT by GATOR NAVY

SAN DIEGO – The skipper of the San Diego-based Pearl Harbor has been relieved of command after the amphibious landing-dock ship ran aground last week in the Persian Gulf, Navy officials said Monday.

Cmdr. Xavier Valverde has been reassigned to the staff of the Naval Forces Central Command in Bahrain while the July 21 incident is investigated.

The Pearl Harbor apparently hit a shoal while conducting a well-deck drill off the coast of Kuwait, a Navy spokeswoman said. The ship backed off the sand bar without sustaining damage.

Valverde, a 26-year Navy veteran, took command of the Pearl Harbor in November. He was relieved over the weekend by Rear. Adm. Kendall Card, commander of Expeditionary Strike Group 3.

Capt. Mike Slotsky, deputy commodore of Destroyer Squadron 9 in Everett, Wash., will oversee the ship temporarily.

The Pearl Harbor left San Diego on May 4 as part of the Peleliu amphibious assault group, which has been operating in the Persian Gulf for about a month.


TOPICS: Front Page News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: grounding; navy; usn
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To: Billthedrill

On this one evolution we were steaming with another LST. We were senior. My Captain told me always to remember I am now OOD of a ship 500 yards wide and 2,000 yards long. The flag staff may have forgotten that principle. However, it doesn’t mitigate as far as the Navy is concerned.


61 posted on 07/29/2008 1:43:29 AM PDT by Retain Mike
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To: Retain Mike
However, I did have sense enough to call the Captain.

.....

The amazing thing is he let me keep my job.

I suspect these two facts are connected. Having enough sense to realise when you are (if you'll forgive the expression in the circumstances) out of your depth makes a lot of difference to someone's potential. I could forgive most things, myself, from a subordinate who realised when it was time to ask for help. I had little patience for those who tried to bluff their way through it.

62 posted on 07/29/2008 2:43:45 AM PDT by naturalman1975 ("America was under attack. Australia was immediately there to help." - John Winston Howard)
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To: GATOR NAVY

Again?


63 posted on 07/29/2008 3:07:22 AM PDT by SkyPilot ("I wasn't in church during the time when the statements were made.")
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To: GATOR NAVY

64 posted on 07/29/2008 4:56:25 AM PDT by Impy (Spellcheck hates Obama, you should too.)
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To: editor-surveyor

Yep! any sailor that says that is a Fool! or never takes his boat off the mooring:-P
I’d love to see Axelrod’s Parrot try his hand at sailing a 34 ft Sabre or any other, it would be a pathetic comedy show and yet the Parrot Putz is running for CIC!! RIDICULOUS!!


65 posted on 07/29/2008 4:58:32 AM PDT by NOBAMA in 08 (An Empty Suited Opportunist with No Redeeming Value!)
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To: pie_eater

A Greek cruise ship ran aground off Nantucket a few years ago, in clear weather at night. The passengers were evacuated by boat and crew was interviewed on local TV news. The officer on watch at the time of the grounding complained that he was watching TV at the time and for some reason the cable to GPS antenna was loose and the ship steered itself on to the beach.

The Coast Guard’s Captain of the Port of Boston, sent a prize crew by helicopter and ordered the officers off the ship, taking control of it. (Whether or not he cleared it with higher ups, I know not.) He was interviewed on local TV, saying that you cannot depend on electronic navigation and you “need to look out the window”.

I’m sure this case was different. Message is the same, you cannot depend electronic navigation. Or subordinates.


66 posted on 07/29/2008 5:11:07 AM PDT by Lonesome in Massachussets (His Negritude has made his negritude the central theme of this campaign)
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To: GATOR NAVY
“The Pearl Harbor apparently hit a shoal while conducting a well-deck drill...”

For the sake of someone unfamiliar with Naval operations, could someone please explain what a well-deck drill is?

67 posted on 07/29/2008 5:12:17 AM PDT by ops33 (Senior Master Sergeant, USAF (Retired))
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To: GATOR NAVY

Ok let me see if I have this right... the Gator Navy steams around in a BOX at 5 kts all day long and then hits dirt???!! :-) The CO is totally and inescapably responsible for everything that happens on the ship and ultimately takes the fall for all collisons and groundings... “however slight”. I agree the NaviGATOR, XO (training) and probably Ops will all be looking for jobs soon.


68 posted on 07/29/2008 5:46:48 AM PDT by Snow Eagle
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To: Retain Mike

You had the brains to call the captain! The theory is you gotta let your crew make decisions and make mistakes — it’s how they learn — but never let their mistakes become the ship’s mistakes. I always asked myself “is it safe and will it work?” Hard to do as a captain but worth it in the long run because you get a well trained crew. A CO doesn’t sleep much at sea.


69 posted on 07/29/2008 6:00:21 AM PDT by Snow Eagle
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To: Retain Mike

Great story, great officer. I’m sure it rubbed off on you.


70 posted on 07/29/2008 6:33:22 AM PDT by Gamecock (The question is not, Am I good enough to be a Christian? rather Am I good enough not to be?)
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To: Billthedrill
If a captain of a commercial ship did the same thing, he would be fired.


71 posted on 07/29/2008 6:37:23 AM PDT by jmcenanly
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To: Retain Mike

ALL Navy CO’s will not dress you down if you call them to the bridge for assistance. Your mistake, he pays for it.


72 posted on 07/29/2008 6:49:26 AM PDT by Pistolshot (NO B.O.)
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To: Retain Mike

What a great story. What a good example of a good leader.


73 posted on 07/29/2008 6:51:08 AM PDT by Toadman ((molon labe))
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To: Ronin

Too bad he didn’t run into a channel bouy instead

From USNEWS April 18, 2008

It was a tenacity that would serve [ADM] Mullen [CJCS] well again a short time later when, as a lieutenant with his first command, his ship hit a buoy in a channel. “My career virtually ended,” says Mullen. “I got a completely unsatisfactory evaluation.” He figures it set his career back 11 years.

http://www.usnews.com/articles/news/national/2008/04/18/admiral-michael-mullen-a-navy-man-looks-out-for-the-army.html?PageNr=2


74 posted on 07/29/2008 7:24:17 AM PDT by PurpleMan
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To: ghannonf18
I believe I read somewhere that as a young officer, Arleigh Burke ran a ship aground, or some incident akin to that. He beat the rap, and it was fortunate for the Navy that he did as he later became a great battle commander.
75 posted on 07/29/2008 7:26:58 AM PDT by alarm rider (Peace! through superior fire power....)
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To: GATOR NAVY
"Sir, here's a NOTAM that just came in..."

Sometimes it's just bad luck.
76 posted on 07/29/2008 7:42:07 AM PDT by Thrownatbirth (.....Iraq Invasion fan since '91.)
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To: Gondring; Coop

Fascinating thread. I am trying to wrap my mind around the idea that it takes 391 sailors and 22 officers to ferry 500 marines around. I mean, think about it - the purpose of the ship is to be a taxi and floating hotel.

With 391 sailors, do the marines get room service?


77 posted on 07/29/2008 8:05:44 AM PDT by patton (cuiquam in sua arte credendum)
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To: naturalman1975

I agree with you. It’s counter-intuitive, but recognizing that you’re in over your head and deciding to tell your superior about it takes initiative.


78 posted on 07/29/2008 8:32:58 AM PDT by 1rudeboy
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To: Stonewall Jackson

The Capt in charge of the squardon of DDs was BEACH, I served on the USS TRITON with his son in the erly 1960s. It was blindly following the lead ship that did them in.


79 posted on 07/29/2008 8:52:56 AM PDT by spookie (SPOOKIE)
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To: patton
Fascinating thread. I am trying to wrap my mind around the idea that it takes 391 sailors and 22 officers to ferry 500 marines around.

By commercial standards, Navy ships are always overmanned. That's because the Navy figures casualties and damage control ops into the manpower requirements.

80 posted on 07/29/2008 8:56:42 AM PDT by Knitebane (Happily Microsoft free since 1999.)
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