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This is an embarrassing disaster for the Navy. It saddens me that the CO and the flag officers involved apparently abdicated their responsibilities as Naval officers and had to engage in a teleconference to determine who had ultimate command and control of the fire fighting efforts. These delays resulted a fairly small fire spreading into a catastrophic inferno that led to the loss of the ship. I spent many years in the Navy and was assigned to shipboard firefighting parties. Later in my career I was the department head of a shore based ship board damage and control and fire fighting training program. Whoever the senior officer present was should’ve taken charge and directed the Bon Homme Richard’s crew to begin fighting the fire in coordination with the base civilian firefighters. Like many flag officers these men were more concerned about looking out for their careers and covering their *****es than doing the right thing. The loss of this ship is a sad commentary on senior leadership in today’s Navy.
Agree. I was in the engine room of steam driven ships and our firefighting team cross trained with the flight deck firefighting team. The officer and senior enlisted should have made the right decisions on the scene. I can see a green junior officer not knowing what to do but the senior enlisted should have guided the officer towards the right decision. I sometimes wonder if hubris played a part in the poor decisions. There comes a point when you must acknowledge you need help.
I shake my head at the Iowa XO doing XO stuff of make the turret ship shape after the explosion.....and having it immediately cleaned up and wreckage tossed over the side.
It seems there is a "hole" o command when a ship is in the yard for an overhaul. That said, to me the Captain of the ship is always in charge not some Yard Bird Officer.
It seems there is a "hole" o command when a ship is in the yard for an overhaul. That said, to me the Captain of the ship is always in charge not some Yard Bird Officer.
There is not a hole - there should not be a question - the ships captain/crew has the responsibility even in the yards. They do not sign over the ship, the CO is still responsible for the ship and crew. They are supposed to monitor and stop the work if not being done correctly or endangers ship or crew - at least that was the case when we were in the yards.
In a fire or other casualty situation, it is the ship's captain/crew that is responsible and should take charge to coordinate with assistance from the other organizations available - they do not abrogate their responsibility to the repair guys. We had a fire while in the yard - the ship's crew put it out even though it was the yard activities that started the fire.
There is not a hole - there should not be a question - the ships captain/crew has the responsibility even in the yards. They do not sign over the ship, the CO is still responsible for the ship and crew. They are supposed to monitor and stop the work if not being done correctly or endangers ship or crew - at least that was the case when we were in the yards.
In a fire or other casualty situation, it is the ship's captain/crew that is responsible and should take charge to coordinate with assistance from the other organizations available - they do not abrogate their responsibility to the repair guys. We had a fire while in the yard - the ship's crew put it out even though it was the yard activities that started the fire.
Agreed. Even in yard work we still ran fire drills for the crew on duty every night. A well trained crew will not allow a fire to get to that level.
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