Monday, August 21, 2017

Ten sailors missing after USS John S. McCain collides with merchant ship


Via Instapundit: “This crash came days after the top three leaders aboard the USS Fitzgerald were relieved of command. That warship was damaged badly in a collision off the coast of Japan that killed seven sailors in June. . . . This marked the fourth mishap for U.S. Navy ships in the Pacific since February. Aside from the USS McCain and USS Fitgerald incidents, the Navy crusier USS Antietam ran aground dumping over 1,000 gallons of oil in Tokyo Bay in Februray. In May, another cruiser, USS Lake Champlain, hit a South Korean fishing vessel.”

How are they going to dodge Chinese submarines if they can’t dodge commercial shipping?

9 comments:

edutcher said...

There's a metaphor.

The Navy is merciless on the issue of captains being in control of their ships.

PS Speculation is extant the Red Chinese are using an EMP weapon to cause this. How valid is anyone's guess.

ndspinelli said...

There's a street adjacent to Lindbergh Field[SAN] named after Admiral McCain. Just a bit of trivia.

john said...

The captain, XO and chief enlisted man were relieved of their commands. That'll do it. It's one thing to make sure the captain is ultimately responsible for his ship. It's another to fix responsibility in the middle of the chain of command to make sure the possibility of it migrating upward remain remote.

That's the Navy way. See, c.f., Iowa, USS, 1989.

john said...

Oops, my bad. Better example:

See, c.f., Indianapolis, USS, 1945.

Amartel said...

They could be canning the officers and chief for show while they continue investigating whether they've been hacked. That's the way of it in the military, somebody has to pay without delay when there's a big costly public problem.

AllenS said...

Why not whip the people responsible, and then throw a bucket of salt water on them. Keep doing that until moral improves.

Trooper York said...

Wait a minute?

John McCain crashed a boat?

ndspinelli said...

Yes, his old man's boat.

john said...

Whipping is for pussies. Keel haul them.