Damming classified report on USS Fitzgerald collision released

The Navy Times has released a classified report completed a couple weeks after the collision between the USS Fitzgerald and the ACX Crystal, and it's about as bad as it can be. For starters, it documents casual rule breaking on the bridge that frequently didn't see the Captain or XO, even during dangerous transits.

The OOD, Lt J.G. Sarah Coppock didn't communicate with CIC because of personal distrust, when the investigators entered CIC they found an almost overwhelming smell of urine, kettlebells, bottles filled with urine, radar displays that didn't work, and sailors that didn't know how to use them. The VMS in the Captain's quarters was broken, so it was cannibalized to repair other units working. They also found they hadn't had a quartermaster Chief Petty Officer since 2015, the chief's mess was dysfunctional, and officers appeared indifferent to lessons that should have been learned from other incidents.

www.navytimes.com...

So who gets to go to Leavenworth?

That really is shocking.
But why all the pee everywhere?

a reply to: Zaphod58

Do you think charge the officers criminally?

a reply to: Zaphod58

Yikes. That's not sounding good.

a reply to: dashen

Too busy to leave CIC even for a few minutes. From the sound of things there were only a few fully qualified people in there so they probably didn't dare leave, even for a few minutes.

originally posted by: dashen
So who gets to go to Leavenworth?

That really is shocking.
But why all the pee everywhere?

Lt J.G. Sarah Coppock. She won't go to jail. It's not fair. It is sexist to even consider it.

Happy 2000th post to me.

a reply to: CriticalStinker

The Captain and XO are facing charges. They should rot for this.

a reply to: Zaphod58

A little definition might be beneficial to understanding the posted portion of the report.

en.wikipedia.org...

U.S. Navy Quartermaster Rating Badge QM.jpg Rating insignia Issued by United States Navy Type Enlisted rating Abbreviation QM Specialty Operations/Navigation The quartermaster is the enlisted member in charge of the watch-to-watch navigation and the maintenance, correction, and preparation of nautical charts and navigation publications. He or she is also responsible for navigational instruments and clocks and the training of ship's lookouts and helmsmen. He or she performs these duties under the control of the ship's navigator or other officer if there was no officer navigator. In the modern navy, a quartermaster is a petty officer who specializes in navigation. The rating abbreviation is QM. The symbol used for the rating and worn on uniforms is a ship's wheel.[1]

a reply to: Zaphod58

its one thing to have to pee in a bottle - for ........... reasons - but FFS to fail to clean up // police the station between watch changes ????????????

a reply to: ignorant_ape

I thought the same thing.
Take the bottle with you after your shift.

a reply to: Bluntone22

Maybe they were waiting for Tru.....nevermind. j/k

It will be good to see some zero's getting charged. Usually they jail all the enlisted peeps and reassign officers.

Looks as though mariners will want to stay clear of US Navy ships, if possible.

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: CriticalStinker

The Captain and XO are facing charges. They should rot for this.

If they are taking heads, they need to go higher up the Chain of Command as well. I agree that the CO and XO bear some of the blame, but they can only do so much if they don't have the support of their superiors. This is the fall out from the "Modern Navy", where you can let job training slide as long as the Diversity, Sexual Harassment and Human Trafficking training is current. I know people who have gotten out because of this.

a reply to: JIMC5499

I agree they need to go higher, but like any unit, the CO sets the tone. They can only do so much without higher support but they allowed the prevailing attitude and rule breaking on the ship itself.

originally posted by: JIMC5499

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: CriticalStinker

The Captain and XO are facing charges. They should rot for this.

If they are taking heads, they need to go higher up the Chain of Command as well. I agree that the CO and XO bear some of the blame, but they can only do so much if they don't have the support of their superiors. This is the fall out from the "Modern Navy", where you can let job training slide as long as the Diversity, Sexual Harassment and Human Trafficking training is current. I know people who have gotten out because of this.

I've heard from a recently retired 30 year E-9 that its exactly the same way in the Air Force.

a reply to: JIMC5499

Dude, this is soooooooo true. I just retired in 2010, and christ I got tired of seeing morons promoted cuz they had school. It didn't matter that the kid couldn't turn a wrench, by god he volunteered and has a Bachelor's degree...promote!!!!!!


I couldn't even put dudes up for awards that I wanted because doing your job exceptionally well wasn't pretty to the board.

originally posted by: dashen
That really is shocking.
But why all the pee everywhere?

People who surfer from Depression do this!
pee in bottles, cups. and just leave it to stink the place out.
I have seen some ones flat mate do it.
I could see in to his room. it stank.
and beer mugs from the pub all over with piss.
I then found out more about it.
its more than just being lazy.
Depression, psychological disorders of some kind

originally posted by: Zaphod58
I agree they need to go higher, but like any unit, the CO sets the tone. They can only do so much without higher support but they allowed the prevailing attitude and rule breaking on the ship itself.

Fifteen years ago I would have agreed with you totally. These days, I'm not so sure. Say I'm a Chief (E-7), and I criticize the performance of one of the people that I'm responsible for. I go as far as to assign remedial training to that person. They don't like it, so they call or e-mail one of the "hot lines" and accuse me of being sexist, racist or of sexually harassing them. I'm transferred out of there, possibly demoted and my career is toast. No proof is needed. Now tell me how the CO, XO and the Chief's Mess is supposed to deal with that? I just saw where the CO of the Bremerton was relieved because he hired a prostitute in the Philippines and some junior enlisted turned him in.

This investigation was started because the Navy wanted to protect it self from lawsuits. That's the only reason. Don't even get me started on Lt. Snowflake in CIC.

They need to go lower, too. The Goat Locker bears a huge responsibility for the lack of trained watch standers. Any competent Chief knows how to complete training of inexperienced operators with simple assignments of personnel to various watch teams. They put people who don't know things in the same watch section as those who do and watch the knowledge flow. These assignments are made by senior enlisted, not the Os, and a good LPO will take relative knowledge and experience of watch standers into consideration.

Not only is this how good enlisted managers train new rankers, it's also how you grow new leaders from your middling experienced people. As a person learns to teach skills, they also learn to lead. It's a never ending process and is a large part of the yearly evaluation senior enlisted personnel are given. I would have to dig out my old evals to get the exact language, but the words "Petty Officer Montana is effective in passing knowledge of Rate and Rank to junior personnel" seems familiar.

Bad Goats!

a reply to: JIMC5499

And at some point people need to be held accountable. Should we ignore things like this and only go after higher? That's not much different than what you're talking about. We'd end up leaving horrible commanders untouched and creating a much more toxic command environment than ever before because they'd just say they were afraid to discipline anyone.