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USS Fitzgerald collision in C7F

hscs

Registered User
pilot
Did nobody tell them it was a warship made of aluminum, built with safety factors low enough to make an aeronautical engineer blush?

View attachment 17711
Burkes are a lot stronger than previous hull designs. As Flash mentioned - they took on some hard lessons from Belknap, Stark, and Falklands - as well as the Ticos (which were originally just Spruance class with a massive superstructure).
 

Uncle Fester

Robot Pimp
None
Super Moderator
Contributor
I just listened to that today. I can't believe RADM McKnight's comment in there. According to him, it is the sailors responsibility to find the time to get sleep.

I'm not surprised. That's been the Surface Navy's mantra for years.
 

nittany03

Recovering NFO. Herder of Programmers.
pilot
None
Super Moderator
Contributor
I'm not surprised. That's been the Surface Navy's mantra for years.
And they dog on us for having callsigns, because they’re supposedly “inappropriate,” when they’re literally killing their Sailors. :rolleyes:

To return to everyone’s favorite Safety Center cliche, the “hockey stick” graph, here’s an article from a retired Safety Center CO about how Naval Aviation started figuring out how to stop needlessly killing people almost 60 years ago.
 

BigRed389

Registered User
None
Heard this on NPR on the way home. CDR Benson and CDR Sanchez charged with dereliction of duty, hazarding a vessel and negligent homicide. Wow. Have similar charges been brought against COs in the past?

https://news.usni.org/2018/01/16/fo...ide-dereliction-duty-charges-fatal-collisions

Yes.
USS RADFORD and BELKNAP come to mind. I don't think any have actually been found guilty though.

Probably a tough case to make against CDR Benson.
CDR Sanchez was actually awake and present for his fiasco, so he's probably facing longer odds.
 

ChuckMK23

FERS and TSP contributor!
pilot
These indictments came after much careful study - I mean in no was was this reactionary. I like that Director of Naval Reactors was the authority determining what actions came from these collisions. I can't think of a better choice. He's a line officer, but from the Submarine Force so he is unlikely to have any deep connections to the Surface Force leadership that he reviewed.

So it's good to see the system of leadership and accountability working - ultimately its all about getting to the truth.

I hope one of the outcomes is a real review of human performance with respect to sleep/rest. No more "suck it up Buttercup". The lessons Aviation learned 70 years ago.
 

sevenhelmet

Low calorie attack from the Heartland
pilot
Any military aviation accidents that resulted in charges like these? I'm not trolling, just curious. Accidents have killed people and destroyed property on the ground, but I haven't heard of a case being brought of negligent homicide or anything similar.
 

ChuckMK23

FERS and TSP contributor!
pilot
Any military aviation accidents that resulted in charges like these? I'm not trolling, just curious. Accidents have killed people and destroyed property on the ground, but I haven't heard of a case being brought of negligent homicide or anything similar.

I'm no lawyer - but my puny understanding of law is the issue is always about intent - malicious intent. The NTSB in Civil Aviation sets the tone that it is always unwise to criminalize true human error. The FAA has to my knowledge agreed with this. I'm guessing Mil/UCMJ is similar.
 

picklesuit

Dirty Hinge
pilot
Contributor
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