USS Fitzgerald collision in C7F

[Jim123]

Why do you guys want to do more with more instead of less with less?

 

[Pags]

VADM Brown (SURFOR) dropped this today:

Surface warfare: A running fix

Of note:

Seems like a good plan to deviate from. Also appreciate how quickly his guidance has come out following the results of the OOD evals.

"A good plan executed violently is better than a perfect plan executed next week"

 

[Renegade One]

"A good plan executed violently TODAY is better than a perfect plan executed next week"

FIFY.

 

[Steve Wilkins]

I am curious though. From what I've read a lot of the people who are unfit for other communities at USNA and ROTC are made SWO's. Is it possible that they have no effect on the current climate?

Unfit or unqualified? Be careful with your words.

 

[Steve Wilkins]

I don't now how ships collide, I just don't get it. But I'm not a ship driver and will never be - I don't know the ins and outs maritime navigation.

I said those same words once. To your larger point though, I don't get it either. I never have. It's really nothing more than managing relative motion in a 2D space.

 

[Steve Wilkins]

This new mandate will piss off all types of surface nukes, you start 5 x 10 and then as you get senior the watchbill gets better, in order to get a decent schedule for all you are going to have to take senior guys and put them on junior watches. There was a time when on the Lincoln they wanted to even out the watchbill and it was not good, LCDR's were standing watches stood by LT's to CPO's, CPO's were standing watches normally stood by E-6/E-5's, and so on. It didn't last long.

I've long been a proponent of "everybody stands watch" except CO, XO, CMC. I really don't give a shit that a senior chief with 22 years in thinks he's above standing watch. This is obviously geared at CRUDES, but but CVN/AMPHIB community could do something similar.

 

[Steve Wilkins]

For those who don't know, the circadian rhythm watchbill isn't some random turd from the good-idea fairy. A very smart professor at NPS studied the old schedules and visited ships to test/observe the new method. She's been doing sleep/alertness/performance studies for a long time.

Well, she definitely missed the ships I was on.

 

[Steve Wilkins]

To lay the bulk of the blame at her feet is a bit too much in my opinion, she wasn't the only one on the bridge and plenty of folks further up the chain share some as well.

She was the only OOD on watch on the bridge, yes?

 

[Steve Wilkins]

I think the OOD should be held to the highest, possible, level of accountability. But so should the CO.

Highest level of accountability short of criminal charges, yes. But I think it sets a very dangerous precedent to go beyond that.

 

[Steve Wilkins]

Yep- that and the fact that it took these mishaps to institutionally figure out how badly we suck at driving ships, that is a sign we have much greater institutional problems to worry about.

No. We've known that for a while. We just haven't done anything about it because we were able to get away with it for so long.

 

[Swanee]

No. We've known that for a while. We just haven't done anything about it because we were able to get away with it for so long.

Why is that? Why were so many commanders willing to accept such a low standard for such a long time?

 

[Steve Wilkins]

But what will the NOSCs do when they don’t have any more SELRES to harass?

As a former XO of a NOSC, I can safely say that we never harassed the SELRES, the dirty slimy little cockroaches that they are. Our job was simply to ensure they were ready to rapidly deploy to all regions of the world in the larger effort to provide contributory peacetime support when/where needed.

 

[Steve Wilkins]

Why is that? Why were so many commanders willing to accept such a low standard for such a long time?

"Commanders" is a fairly broad term here. Who are you referring to specifically? COs, ISICs, CNSF?

 

[Swanee]

"Commanders" is a fairly broad term here. Who are your referring to specifically? COs, ISICs, CNSF?

Every single one of them, from the O-1 to the CNO. DivOs, DHs, XOs and COs, FOGOs, all of them had to accept a lower standard. When was the last time the surface folks were good at driving ships and when did the wheels fall off the bus?

 

[exNavyOffRec]

I've long been a proponent of "everybody stands watch" except CO, XO, CMC. I really don't give a shit that a senior chief with 22 years in thinks he's above standing watch. This is obviously geared at CRUDES, but but CVN/AMPHIB community could do something similar.

The only ones that didn't stand watch on a CVN were the DH who was often an O-6 and any MCPO's (2 maybe 3) they way we had it set up was so that people wanted to qualify fast and get on a better rotation.