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US Navy 7th Fleet commander dismissed!

http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/22/politics/ ... index.html

Two forward deployed ships out of action for an extended time that aren't easy to replace. Loss of life. All in 7th Fleet's AOR. Long hard look at training and practices ahead.

As a former squid this is just baffling. No way in hell can I conceive of these merchant running into naval vessels without someone seeing or tracking them. The only possibility I can even fathom is the ship was dead in the water.

1911 10MM wrote:As a former squid this is just baffling. No way in heck can I conceive of these merchant running into naval vessels without someone seeing or tracking them. The only possibility I can even fathom is the ship was dead in the water.

I'd expect the merchant ship to be sunk before it even can get close!

As a Navy vet I just can't see how this could happen without negligence. Destroyers are about 3-5x over manned on the bridge and watch stations compared to merchants. They're way more maneuverable and the radars are much better (at least they're supposed to be). Some of my fellow Navy destroyer watch officers were civilian maritime academy graduates and short of the captain, they were the best ship handlers and navigators on board. Me and some of the other landlubber junior officers, not so much. But I can tell you that as bad of a conning officer/JOOD that I was, there is no way I would have crashed my ship into a freighter. Even at night...in a busy sea lane. You can stop or maneuvering a twin screw gas turbine or even steam powered destroyer quite easily.

My suspicion is they were playing games like running with no lights or maneuvering close to a merchant to hide in their radar signature, or distracted with some other mindless bureaucratic task like making sure the decorative brass barometer was polished...or counting the number of microagressions against trans sailors....or whatever. Anything but learning how to "drive" a ship. I've done underway replenishing (two ships side by side connected by wires and hoses for transferring cargo) at night in moderate seas and didn't manage to crash my destroyer. You can bet though that the Captain, XO, Deck Officer, and every other stray Lieutenant Commander was on the bridge looking over my shoulder too... And remember I sucked as a conning officer....

ETA: "Go out the side of the bridge wing and LOOK AROUND, Ensign ScottDLS!!!!". -XO, USS John King (DDG-3) c. 1989....

Scott B. wrote:Two forward deployed ships out of action for an extended time that aren't easy to replace. Loss of life. All in 7th Fleet's AOR. Long hard look at training and practices ahead.

yeh, and N Korea playing games......

bmwrdr wrote:US Navy 7th Fleet commander dismissed!

http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/22/politics/ ... index.html

It's not possible to have this many major screwups under competent command.

I heartily applaud the decision to ditch the boss and send a message to the rest of the military that Obama is no longer in office and results, not the number of sensitivity training sessions, is what counts for their careers.

Excaliber wrote:

bmwrdr wrote:US Navy 7th Fleet commander dismissed!

http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/22/politics/ ... index.html

It's not possible to have this many major screwups under competent command.

I heartily applaud the decision to ditch the boss and send a message to the rest of the military that Obama is no longer in office and results, not the number of sensitivity training sessions, is what counts for their careers.

That is my understanding too, there is no excuse for unnecessary loss of lives.

USNI Proceedings, let my subscription lapse years ago, has the first of a very informative series:

https://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedi ... oot-causes

Some sobering stuff in there about eliminating SWOSDOC an favor of computer based training and OJT.

Scott B. wrote:USNI Proceedings, let my subscription lapse years ago, has the first of a very informative series:

https://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedi ... oot-causes

Some sobering stuff in there about eliminating SWOSDOC an favor of computer based training and OJT.

That info is really scaring stuff - another catastrophic example of Obama hollowing out our military.

Is what we are seeing remnants of the Obama military (lack of) leadership?

Excaliber wrote:

Scott B. wrote:USNI Proceedings, let my subscription lapse years ago, has the first of a very informative series:

https://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedi ... oot-causes

Some sobering stuff in there about eliminating SWOSDOC an favor of computer based training and OJT.

That info is really scaring stuff - another catastrophic example of Obama hollowing out our military.

Wow, that is really shocking. I went to Surface Warfare Officer School Division Officer Course in 1988 and it was really the only shiphandling and seamanship training I had before conning a 4700 ton twin screw Destroyer. Through a quirk of scheduling I first went to my ship 5 days after commissioning before SWOSDOC. But luckily we were in Drydock, so the Captain never had to worry about me crashing it. He never would have let me stand bridge watch anyway even as JOOD until I had the school.

I served aboard the USS Fitzgerald, I am in fact a plank owner and have a lot of pride in that ship. The damage that DDG-62 and her crew suffered affected me in a strange way that I find somewhat difficult to explain. As the Fitgerald's first master helmsman; I do NOT understand how these incidents keep occurring. I spent quite a bit of time in the pilot house and knowing the capabilities of that ship; both in terms of maneuverability and aegis radar/sonar, none of this makes sense to me or my brothers whom I served with.

Fair weather and following seas to all souls lost,

Surfer