Quite a fascinating (but long - I'm not finished yet!) write up on the Fitzgerald cock up from Propublica. Be curious if the Beeb has further direct info.
That was a really good article with great illustrations. I was a little suspect when I saw who the publisher, but I think it was pretty fair. It is sad to see how far things have degraded since my time in the Navy. Things were certainly not perfect but we never lacked for anything whether it be material or training. The issue of personnel is something that did crop up though, but I think that applies across all of society. Finding and keeping good employees is tough and we were often a little short on crew which resulted in lack of sleep due to the watch rotations. When we were underway, it was a pretty regular occurrence to go 36 hrs with little to no sleep, then have about 6 hrs to catch up before doing it all again. When this first happened, my suspicion was that the cause was a combination of an over reliance on technology and someone not paying attention on the actual lookout duties. While it sounds like there were plenty of mechanical issues, nothing can take the place of a pair of good old MK1 eyeballs (as they are sometimes called). Shocking that they only had one lookout on duty in such crowded waters, especially at night. Most of the charges seem like an overreach and political grandstanding, but if anyone deserves a charge it is the female officer that had the conn that disregarded orders. There is no way she should still be wearing a uniform. Her whole job was to keep the ship safe and follow the orders of the captain and failure to follow orders is not just negligence. Some people can make good decisions under duress and some just aren't cut out for it. Unfortunately it seems like one of the latter was driving that night.
Respect your knowledge on the subject. As an ordnary guy, judging from her actions and reactions afterwards, she should probably have never been in that position. This detail gives our adversaries comfort. With those deficiencies, I wonder if they could detect or actually shoot down a missle.
I read this last night. According to the reporting, there were 22 tests they had to pass for the ship to become certified. They passed 7.
Yep, but from one dude looking in from the outside, she seems mentally incapable of such responsibility.
I agree. There were certainly a lot of factors, but that one really stands out to me. And that fall back on the captain for having put her in that position to begin with and not recognizing her deficiencies.
Oh, this should be a good read....looking forward to it. I heard the Admiral who took over after the previous Adm dismissal put a bullet in his head....literally, committed suicide months after taking charge in Japan. I have left my position repairing USN vessels.....which is dis-heartening with me being Ex-USN. It was a total shit-show. There was no winning in that job. I'd attribute a heavy portion of the confusion to most of the Management at the shipyard being retired USN officers.....it pains me to say that, but they are not effective managers. Some were, some were not. Its alot different than active duty and some handled it better than others. The Command of the Regional maint Center (Our USN Customer) was a cluster as well. We were not perfect by any means either. Looking forward to the read, thanx.
I don't think there is a MK rating. MK1 was in reference to Mark1 which is how military equipment is usually versioned. MK48 torpedo, MK3 knife, MK1 eyeballs.
There is in the short sailors gang...that's why I thought the Navy had the same rating. They are Machinery Technicians in the CG. You're version of MK makes perfect sense now Once again, learned something on the beeb.
Well they DEFINITELY can’t put out a press release saying ‘OOPS, we’ve been getting hacked!’ A woman was driving. Perfect!
There's A LOT of people on watch. There's around 6-8 in the pilot house and several in CIC. Between the radars and eyes (not just lookouts..) there's really no excuse for what happened IMHO...
When I was in, what you are referring to were actually two ratings : MM (machinists mate) basically handled everything in the engineroom but the boilers. BT (boiler technician) handled those. There was talk of merging the two ratings but I don't know if that ever happened. I'll look into it tonight when I get home . It was a rush to open up a big ass valve in 4MMR on the Kitty Hawk and let loose 70,000 horses and feel 96,000 tons accelerate in response.
I'm surprised no one said it already (it may be earlier in the thread): "Millennials are killing the Navy..." But seriously, this sentence from the article mind fucked me a bit: "Arleigh Burke destroyers can come to a complete halt from 20 knots within 500 feet or so."
WOW....I'm not finished reading yet. As an Ex-HT, with Damage Control being part of my job, this is an emotional read for me. As an Ex-Shipyard contractor providing maintenance, again, emotions. The article does appear well done. Stunned.