USS John S. McCain collides with merchant vessel

[actaeon277]

I guess I must be Churchmouse ancient.
GPS was relatively new.
The navigator had to be able to triangulate off radio signals, or visually off landmarks (or stars).

Of course, that only worked on the surface.

 

[Birds Away]

I guess I must be Churchmouse ancient.
GPS was relatively new.
The navigator had to be able to triangulate off radio signals, or visually off landmarks (or stars).

Of course, that only worked on the surface.

We always did it manually. We would check against each other, bridge and CIC, but almost never plotted the satellite position.

I think the manual plotting they are talking about are maneuvering boards and the dead reckoning tracer. Those are the tools most used to avoid collisions.

 

[actaeon277]

https://www.military.com/daily-news...r-work-weeks-sailors.html?ESRC=navy_171219.nl

Reports of 100+ hour work weeks.


One of the commenters at the bottom said, "It's not work. You're just staring at the horizon."
What an idiot.
a side from how long people can "stare at the horizon" and maintain attention spans, not all jobs are like that. I'd like to see him in the engine room when the a/c breaks down, temp is over 130, and the captain is breathing down everyone's neck, because it's affecting operations.
And many other jobs .
Cause he had it good, he thinks everyone had it good.

 

[JettaKnight]

This American Life ran a story on this (Act II).

https://www.thisamericanlife.org/634/human-error-in-volatile-situations

Never being in that situation, I have no relevant comment.


Act I about the nuclear missile blowing up is good as well.

 

[Alamo]

Well, more bad news:

Worse than you thought: inside the secret Fitzgerald probe the Navy doesn’t want you to read

 

[printcraft]

Well, more bad news:

Worse than you thought: inside the secret Fitzgerald probe the Navy doesn’t want you to read

Seems like **** fell apart on those ships in the obama years... I have to wonder why...

 

[Spear Dane]

That report is incomprehensible to me. That's our Navy? OUR Navy? **** bottles on the bridge?

 

[actaeon277]

Basically, promotions have become more political, and less professional.
Couple that with ships that are supposed to require less "labor", therefore less crew. Only they don't.
So an already overworked crew is overworked some more.

 

[actaeon277]

And yes, **** bottles on the bridge.

I went to sea with 2 reactor operators. That means 6 hours on watch, 6 hours off. Except when you're off watch, maintenance still has to be performed.
So, you're lucky to get 5 hours sleep every 24 hours.
Then, if you're on watch, and your relief is getting his 5 hours of sleep... you can't leave to go to the bathroom.

Or, if you're at maneuvering watch, or battlestations, for hours at a time.. same thing.. no bathroom.

Crapping into a bucket was not something my recruiter mentioned.

 

[T.Lex]

ProPublica article:
https://features.propublica.org/navy-accidents/uss-fitzgerald-destroyer-crash-crystal/

 

[Birds Away]

Seems like **** fell apart on those ships in the obama years... I have to wonder why...

That's not really it. I'm sure that didn't help but there were other culprits. Unfortunately that article doesn't surprise me at all. There are a lot of factors that come together to lead to this kind of situation. Some of them just can't be avoided although with the right leadership they can be worked through. That ship certainly didn't seem to have much leadership.

 

[Spear Dane]

I guess I must be Churchmouse ancient.
GPS was relatively new.
The navigator had to be able to triangulate off radio signals, or visually off landmarks (or stars).

Of course, that only worked on the surface.

I can assure you that those same methods work in aircraft.

 

[actaeon277]

I can assure you that those same methods work in aircraft.

What I meant was, underwater, they don't work well.

 

[Spear Dane]

ProPublica article:
https://features.propublica.org/navy-accidents/uss-fitzgerald-destroyer-crash-crystal/

That is an outstanding piece of actual journalism.

 

[Trigger Time]

Would have been funny if the headline was USS john MCCain collides with the USS constitution

 

[Alamo]

NTSB issued final report on 05 Aug 19

https://www.ntsb.gov/news/press-releases/Pages/NR20190805.aspx

 

[Alamo]

Captain of USS Fitzgerald During 2017 Collision Ordered to Appear Before Board of Inquiry

Cmdr. Bryce Benson was asleep in his stateroom when the Fitzgerald was struck by a merchant ship in the early hours of June 17, 2017. The Navy initially charged Benson with negligent homicide, but that charge was dismissed in June 2018 and all other charges against Benson were dropped in April, in part because top Navy leaders had repeatedly blamed him for the tragedy, running afoul of rules about unlawful command influence.
Now, the chief of naval personnel has notified Benson that he will have to appear at a board of inquiry to argue why the Navy should not separate him, said his attorney, Cmdr. Justin Henderson. The administrative board is called a "show cause hearing."