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crsutton -> RE: OT: U.S. Navy Destroyer Collides With Merchant Vessel Off Coast Of Japan (8/18/2017 9:28:38 PM)
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ORIGINAL: Bullwinkle58
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ORIGINAL: Spikeosx
An interesting quote from http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/17/politics/uss-fitzgerald-leadership-removed/index.html
"The Fitzgerald's commanding officer, Cdr. Bryce Benson, and the executive officer, Cdr. Sean Babbiit, were both sleeping, and the master chief petty officer, Brice Baldwin, were not on the bridge at the time of the collision, according to the Navy."
I gotta say, I thought our warships were run with at least a high ranking officer in the loop of what is going on.
The CO is always in the loop. The OOD is driving, with support from the CIC. There are Standing Night Orders on every USN vessel. They specify when the CO is to be called, with no exceptions. A CPA (closest-point-of-approach) is always specified. In every case I was OOD it was in tens of thousands of yards. This ship was in a very crowded lane, so the CPA might have been less. If it had been my ship, I would have been on the bridge, or the XO, or the Nav, or a CDO to back up the OOD and JOOD. The initial report I heard about last night (I have read nothing yet) indicated there was either a lack of training, lack of attention to procedures, or both.
There is a concept in the Navy called the Triangle of Leadership. I was taught it at OCS before I was commissioned. The triangle is Authority, Responsibility, Accountability. Many people conflate the last two, but they are different. Responsibility and Authority can be delegated; Accountability never can be. The CO was not responsible for the collision. Most likely the OOD was. But the CO is accountable for it. And thus he shall hang.
Well explained. Thanks. My career was on merchant vessels which are different. At sea at night there are generally only two men on the bridge, the watch officer and the helmsman. But the captain was almost always present when the ship was sailing with a pilot or in restricted waters. The experience of the officer on watch mattered when in non-restricted waters. For example, off the coast of Ecuador it was not unusual to run across a fleet of 100 or more small fishing boats fishing at night, and they could cover a very large area and not maneuver much with nets out. An old timer mate would handle the situation and either haul out to go around or take her through. The captain would be left to sleep. A young novice third mate such as me was not allowed that option. It was expected that I would call the captain-no matter what. But like the Moose said, the captain always took the hit if something went bad.
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