Posted on 08/23/2017 4:29:32 PM PDT by Jagermonster
The unusual spate of collisions, two of them fatal, has called into question the US Navy’s level of preparedness, analysts say, and point to potential problems with training, maintenance, or sailors’ workload.
WASHINGTON—A recent spate of collisions involving US Navy ships from the Seventh Fleet, two of them fatal, has led the Navy to relieve that fleet’s commander, Vice Adm. Joseph Aucoin, reportedly after his superiors lost confidence in his leadership.
The latest collision, Monday off the coast of Singapore, was between the guided-missile destroyer USS John S. McCain and a Liberian-flagged tanker. Ten sailors were reported missing, and the Navy says divers have located the remains of some of those missing in flooded compartments of the destroyer.
The mishap follows a similar tragedy in June, in which seven sailors died when the USS Fitzgerald collided with a merchant vessel south of Japan. That followed two less serious but nonetheless unusual incidents involving ships of the Pacific-based Seventh Fleet in January and May. According to analysts, the collisions call into question the Navy’s level of military preparedness and point to potential problems with training, maintenance, and the workload endured by sailors. What is going on? It could all be down to coincidence – Monday’s collision, for example, occurred in a heavily traveled shipping lane – and any final conclusions on their cause will have to await the results of multiple investigations. Nevertheless, many analysts agree there may be some systemic problems at work here.
(Excerpt) Read more at csmonitor.com ...
And don’t forget putting women in the subs. it is a mess.
Any old fish can float downstream. Leaders have to work and think and do these things actively and aggressively to keep people on edge and engaged.
I’ve heard this under-utilized too many times. We can’t be this over staffed and be talking about fatigue. This tells me we have fallen out of the tradition and habit of what it takes to be prepared.
As a former US Navy officer, I always considered this a serious challenge for any good officer. Training helps, but it takes time, increases fatigue, and adds to workload. Training helps in the long run but potentially leads to mistakes in the short term. Maintenance, similarly, is absolutely essential, but again it contributes to fatigue. You have to know when to defer maintenance and accept some equipment out of commission for a longer period than absolutely necessary in order to ensure crew rest - or know when you have to accept crew fatigue as the price of restoring critical equipment.
Everything necessary or desirable for readiness also adds to workload, and eventually that workload gets to the point where bad things happen. Balance is one of the many things that a good officer (or in other environments a manager, coach, or principal) must learn. As an officer, I tried for balance, and as an employer I did the same.
The article covered EVERYTHING EXCEPT possible crew incompetence and/or negligence. These may have been “unintended” deaths resulting from pursuing goals of social justice warriors.
My son is a Marine and said they have to watch videos of cross dressers, homosexuals, diversity crap, and he said nearly every Marine is pissed off with it.
I find the “stretched too thin” excuse really insulting to our great Navy. These ships are not even operating in war zones. Nobody’s shooting at them and they’re not shooting at anybody either.
At this point, they can’t even sail from point A to point B, in completely peaceful waters, without running into stuff and killing their own sailors. There is something waaaay more wrong with the Navy than “stretched too thin.”
Does it cost a lot to have look outs checking for other ships getting ready to T-Bone your ship? I’m not an expert sailor but I always look out for other boats when I take my little fishing boat out on the water.
Active Duty ping.
“You have to know when to defer maintenance”
Hopefully they didn’t defer guidance systems maintenance.
Put aside the fantasy; let's deal with the reality of ship captains and OOD’s who are playing chicken with craft that are slow moving and non-maneuverable. We're getting hit by concrete walls which the warship had no business being within a half mile of.
I was thinking about how a just a couple of decades ago, homosexuals were not allowed to marry. Then it was, they were not allowed to adopt children. Then it was transgenders. Next it will be pedophilia or bestiality. On and on until no one recognizes America. When will it end.
I remember in VT when the first state they wanted civil unions, and that was it,and would not go any further. Then they said it was their private business, and just want to be left alone, oh boy was that lie.
Now they sue you, make fake assaults up, and hate crimes, they persecute you, and want your business closed.
Why didn't they save it until wartime then? Also, did the Chinese hack into the eyeballs and binoculars of the watch - so they can't see 600 ft long vessels lit up like Christmas trees?
America’s Navy: A Global Force for Good.
F()ck that. It’s our Navy.
>>><<<
That’s right. That always made me mad.
“My son is a Marine and said they have to watch videos of cross dressers, homosexuals, diversity crap, and he said nearly every Marine is pissed off with it.”
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When is Mattis going to end this unadulterated bullcrap?
I haven’t read the article and probably wont, but the reality of the situation is that competence and capability are no longer the metric for promotions within the US Navy.
Compliance with SJW PCism is.
Could be a combination of issues. Discipline/professionalism/training, etc.
Looking at the cargo ship's track prior to hitting Fitzgerald, I wonder if its navigation system was hacked. GPS spoofing recently occured in the Black Sea. Spoof the Fitzgerald's position while "guiding" the cargo vessel into it.
I suspect that there are several issues at play in all four USN collisions this year. My bet is that they are all progressive, and not merely coincidence. $.02
I think that's been covered pretty exhaustively already. I also think they're pretty likely to be correct: billion dollar destroyers generally don't collide with other ships without some sort of negligence or incompetence. But, incompetence and negligence are symptoms, rather than a cause. I want to see how such negligence and incompetence was overlooked or permitted.
Wow! Didn't see that coming. \sarc off
Seamanship!
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