Me too. It has been awhile...Yah, I had to look it up after posting
Sorry Chief, but I knew what I felt I had to type would rub some the wrong way. That's the price we pay for first amendment stuff; things with which we may fundamentally disagree might just get expressed.Justsomeguy: A healthy discussion need not be insulting to Veterans. Disagreeing can be worded to not so offend. Thats my contention as some of us just don't deal well with basically insulting our nation and our military. Grant us our bias: we earned it! Chief
Chief: Thanks ... What I still can't get straight in my head is how a Naval vessel could get T-boned by a tanker. I sail in Sandy Hook Bay, routinely cross the Ambrose Channel, and deal with ship traffic for NWS Earle ... every time out there are multiple ships in close proximity. This didn't make any sense even in light of the NYT article ...MO: I read the report and like you; it greatly concerns me. Lack of sleep coupled with shorter training times is a deadly combo. I didn't notice in that report who actually is manning the helm in such demanding times. It seemed to indicate the young officers were manning the helm and I think, not so. Unless times have changed a lot, the Gunnersmates, BoatswainMates, Signalmen and other deck hands were the ones on the wheel. Granted they took their orders from the on duty officer.
I personally experienced this short handed means of handling responsibilities when up visiting my grandson in law who is a Respiratory Therapist in Fairbanks. As an Army Sgt he caught hospital duties as night NCOIC for 7 days straight w/ 12 hr daily shifts! Got one day off and was also on call the entire time he was on duty as he is the only military Resperatory Therapist at the hospital!
Policies of the past years have definitely curtailed our countrys proper responses to military matters. My concern on here was the very unpatriotic remarks posted here. Healthy discussion is a much better approach. Many of our members are devoted veterans and need to be respected for that, plus you could get some strong reactions from some of us!
Chief
Understood completely, but what has me perplexed is that I've never seen a harbor or seaway with crossing routes, Ambrose has an inbound side and outbound side, NWS Earle is segmented with inbound and outbound sides. They merge offshore at the old Ambrose tower and then split into six distinct sea lanes 3 outbound, three inbound). This Vessel traffic system (VTS) was in place long before AIS and I suspect long before radar. Is the Malacca Straight different, is there no VTS?MO: In tight quarters it would not be easy to evade another ship when yours is 610' long. Chief
Your neighbours would call it something else, but we're dangerously close to a political discussion here and let me just say that we'll just go back to watching the Don Lemon follies and leave it at that.Hmmm. Two things. 1. China declared the US Navy a hazard to navigation. 2. Our enemies may very well question our combat capabilities if we have this much trouble steaming in peacetime.