DownrangeFuture
Electronic Repair Genius
Of Commanding Officers fired in one year. Navy Tops 2010 with 18th CO Firing
Surely this isn't because the Navy is undermanned and underfunded and yet has more responsibilty than ever. I mean, why would a operational tempo bordering on visious have anything to do with this?
I mean, a lot of shore duty jobs are being done by civillians now. Probably because the money to pay contractors (even though they cost more) doesn't come from the Navy budget, but from the general federal government pool. That's why it's not unheard of for sailors to spend 14 years on sea duty straight, when 20 years ago that was unheard of.
But surely that has nothing to do with it. Only the lazy sailors wanted shore duty anyway. Right?
The kicker is that even while we're undermanned, our budget got cut again so now the navy has to let go of another 30,000 or so.
I just had to rant about it. According to sailors from The Sullivans, it wasn't that safety procedures weren't followed. The gun range was clear. The overworked sailors just selected a contact in the wrong quadrant. The "inert" rounds were BL&P rounds from the 5" cannon. (Blind Loaded & Plugged, concrete rounds basically) Imagine a piece of concrete 5" in diameter and just over a foot long coming at your boat at super sonic speeds.
But apparently the transponder codes were almost identical and three people missed the difference and the wrong bearing indicators. One person at the mount controls will select a target and tell the computer to calculate a firing solution, once that's done, the request is sent to the Combat Systems Coodinator for first review, and then onto the officer of the watch (name changes based on ships current mission) who gives final authorization for batteries release. Then the gunner rechecks the firing solution (as this could have taken as long as 30 seconds) and hits the fire button. Although the OIC can authorize CSC to give final fire authorization.
No one apparently noticed until the mount swung the wrong way. But since the 5" cannon can fire the first 12 rounds in as many seconds, and do a full 360 (or from center to weapon stop to weapon stop) in under 5 seconds, I would imagine that in between pressing fire and last round clear was less than 5 seconds. Not long enough for "CEASE FIRE, CEASE FIRE, CEASE FIRE!"
to be of much use.
So why was the CO blasted for this? Only the CO has batteries release authority. He can grant other officers or crew this authority, but it's really the CO saying that he gives the person authority to act as him in whatever situations he deems appropriate. For instance, members of my small caliber weapons teams were given authority to fire under any circumstances authorized by the fleet weapons posture. Basically, we could only return fire unless the guy was staring at us loading his weapon, and then made as if to shoot.
Surely this isn't because the Navy is undermanned and underfunded and yet has more responsibilty than ever. I mean, why would a operational tempo bordering on visious have anything to do with this?
I mean, a lot of shore duty jobs are being done by civillians now. Probably because the money to pay contractors (even though they cost more) doesn't come from the Navy budget, but from the general federal government pool. That's why it's not unheard of for sailors to spend 14 years on sea duty straight, when 20 years ago that was unheard of.
But surely that has nothing to do with it. Only the lazy sailors wanted shore duty anyway. Right?
The kicker is that even while we're undermanned, our budget got cut again so now the navy has to let go of another 30,000 or so.
I just had to rant about it. According to sailors from The Sullivans, it wasn't that safety procedures weren't followed. The gun range was clear. The overworked sailors just selected a contact in the wrong quadrant. The "inert" rounds were BL&P rounds from the 5" cannon. (Blind Loaded & Plugged, concrete rounds basically) Imagine a piece of concrete 5" in diameter and just over a foot long coming at your boat at super sonic speeds.
But apparently the transponder codes were almost identical and three people missed the difference and the wrong bearing indicators. One person at the mount controls will select a target and tell the computer to calculate a firing solution, once that's done, the request is sent to the Combat Systems Coodinator for first review, and then onto the officer of the watch (name changes based on ships current mission) who gives final authorization for batteries release. Then the gunner rechecks the firing solution (as this could have taken as long as 30 seconds) and hits the fire button. Although the OIC can authorize CSC to give final fire authorization.
No one apparently noticed until the mount swung the wrong way. But since the 5" cannon can fire the first 12 rounds in as many seconds, and do a full 360 (or from center to weapon stop to weapon stop) in under 5 seconds, I would imagine that in between pressing fire and last round clear was less than 5 seconds. Not long enough for "CEASE FIRE, CEASE FIRE, CEASE FIRE!"
to be of much use.
So why was the CO blasted for this? Only the CO has batteries release authority. He can grant other officers or crew this authority, but it's really the CO saying that he gives the person authority to act as him in whatever situations he deems appropriate. For instance, members of my small caliber weapons teams were given authority to fire under any circumstances authorized by the fleet weapons posture. Basically, we could only return fire unless the guy was staring at us loading his weapon, and then made as if to shoot.
