US Destroyer T-boned - Again

[Smitty-48]

Well the Captain is ultimately responsible, the CO has to take the fall for his crew, but it's not like the Captain is driving the thing most of the time, do you know if the Captain was standing watch when it fendered? Because most of the time he ain't. The officers all rotate standing watch, could have been a lieutenant who was actually driving at the time.

[DBTrek]

Well the Captain is ultimately responsible, the CO has to take the fall for his crew, but it's not like the Captain is driving the thing most of the time, do you know if the Captain was standing watch when it fendered? Because most of the time he ain't. The officers all rotate standing watch, could have been a lieutenant who was actually driving at the time.

Oh shit, Smitty . . . how Canadian of you.
You're right, man. How can we blame the captain? In fact, how can we really blame anyone? If this collision was anyone's fault, then we should accept that it's all of our faults. We put too many ships in that area. It's us. Everybody.


Canadian collectivism once again charges forth in the never-ending battle against personal responsibility.

[Smitty-48]

No, I said the Captain takes the fall, always, and no matter what happens, that's how we roll in Canada, when the ship crashes, the CO takes the blame, others may get a jackpot for it as well, but the Captain will swing for it, if not court martialed, it's certainly a career ender.

[DBTrek]

No, I said the Captain takes the fall, always, and no matter what happens, that's how we roll in Canada, when the ship crashes, the CO takes the blame, others may get a jackpot for it as well, but the Captain will swing for it, if not court martialed, it's certainly a career ender.

Now you're talking sense.


I don't care when these civvies are all responsibility-free-don't-hold-us-acountable-for-nothing with their lifestyle, but you're a military man.
There are standards.

[Smitty-48]

No, I said the Captain takes the fall, always, and no matter what happens, that's how we roll in Canada, when the ship crashes, the CO takes the blame, others may get a jackpot for it as well, but the Captain will swing for it, if not court martialed, it's certainly a career ender.

Now you're talking sense.


I don't care when these civvies are all responsibility-free-don't-hold-us-acountable-for-nothing with their lifestyle, but you're a military man.
There are standards.

And I was bound by those standards when I was under contract of unlimited liability to the Crown, but the reality is, shit happens, there but by the grace of God go I, I managed to get through my career without screwing the pooch, and I'd like to hope that my prowess had something to do with reducing the odds, but in the end, there's so many factors which are actually beyond you immediate control when you're in command, that it does take some luck, you have to rely on your subordinates to stand watch for the crew at times, and quite frankly, while they're doing it, they are holding everybody's fate in their hands, to include the fate of your career as well.

[Fife]

Obviously the USN just needs more funding.

[DBTrek]

And I was bound by those standards when I was under contract of unlimited liability to the Crown, but the reality is, shit happens, there but by the grace of God go I, I managed to get through my career without screwing the pooch, and I'd like to hope that my prowess had something to do with reducing the odds, but in the end, there's so many factors which are actually beyond you immediate control when you're in command, that it does take some luck, you have to rely on your subordinates to stand watch for the crew at times, and quite frankly, while they're doing it, they are holding everybody's fate in their hands, to include the fate of your career as well.

Yep.
That's by design.

You're supposed to be a military team, not a loose collection of glory-seeking cowboys.
The team is only as strong as the weakest link - so command officers better work hard on refining those weak links, because they're going to answer for them.

[Smitty-48]

This is why of course people in the military get so pissed off when you start watering down the standards for domestic political reasons, because ultimately you can't train every single subordinate yourself, you're relying on the system to train them properly, and since everybody is going to have their fate in these peoples hands, under this military ethos of captian goes down with the ship, it's not quite the same as working with some tool in an office in the cubicle next to you. If that guy screws the pooch, he gets fired, but in the military, you both swing for it.

[Smitty-48]

Obviously the USN just needs more funding.

Well in terms of having to use cruiser sized destroyers to do pickets and patrols instead of frigates, it's more an allocation of funds issue, awhile back the US Navy said "frigates are not really survivable come World War Three, ergo, we don't need frigates anymore", but then World War Three took its time about breaking out, and in the meantime, still had to picket and patrol, which, in tight quarters, with a cruiser sized destroyer, actually a tricky business, that.

[Speaker to Animals]

No, I said the Captain takes the fall, always, and no matter what happens, that's how we roll in Canada, when the ship crashes, the CO takes the blame, others may get a jackpot for it as well, but the Captain will swing for it, if not court martialed, it's certainly a career ender.

I think that's what happens here as well. It's just a destroyer, though. I am not sure how much clout he could have had.