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A former commander of the USS John S. McCain pleaded guilty Friday to dereliction of duty when the destroyer collided with a commercial tanker, killing 10 people and injuring five in the Straits of Singapore last August.
Cmdr. Alfredo Sanchez, who has served in the Navy for more than 20 years, testified during a special court-martial at the Washington Navy Yard, Stars and Stripes reported.
“I am ultimately responsible and stand accountable,” Sanchez said. “I will forever question my decisions that contributed to this tragic event.”
Per disciplinary proceedings, Sanchez agreed to retire from service, forfeit $6,000 in wages, and was issued a letter of reprimand.
Sanchez claimed responsibility for the deadly collision. He said had failed to put a well-rested, well-trained crew in place to steer the destroyer into the Straits.
The former commander, who was immediately reassigned after the collision, initially faced negligent homicide charges, CBS News reported.
According to Sanchez, an 18-year-old undertrained helmsman had been navigating the destroyer, known as "Big Bad John," leading up to the collision.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 28 2018, @03:26AM (5 children)
A reasonable choice is to ask when navigation is useful, and then ensure it can be performed under those situations. Navigation is needed for movement and for radioing for help.
Given that you can move or operate a radio, you should have power. You can't assume that every computer and antenna is in working condition. You can't assume that satellites still exist. All radio signals could be spoofed.
You can thus use a computer, a clock, the sky, gravity, the Earth's magnetic field, underwater features, and all the data tables you'd like. You'll need some redundancy; whole compartments may be flooded or burning.
For the sky, you'll want some imagers that are fixed to the ship. At least one should have a polarizer so that you can track the sun when the sky is overcast. At least one should have a color filter so that you can track bright stars during the day.
For the magnetic field, you'll want something that can be deployed away from the ship. Dangling a probe into the water is one option. Flying a kite is another option. You need to get that probe away from the ship's metal.
For underwater features, you'll want active sonar. Dropping a probe will sometimes work, to a limited extent.
Ships with nice big phased-array radar sets (ought to be on everything large) should also be able to track natural radio sources in the sky. Some of these can be tracked through cloud cover.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Monday May 28 2018, @06:30AM (4 children)
That is exactly what we seem to have forgotten in the military today. Ships don't have just one weapons system - they have several, because A: sometimes one weapons system is unsuitable for the purpose and B: upon contact with the enemy, you can expect to lose a weapon and/or a system. Ships don't have just one gun within the gunnery system - most have two or more main guns, with some kind of backup gun. Ships don't have just one fire main pump, because a pump can be damaged or destroyed, just when you need it most. There isn't just one boiler, or even just one boiler room - there are two boiler rooms, with two boilers in each room.
Ditto with communications gear - repetitive redundancy is a requirement.
Even people! The Fletcher class destroyers were famous and/or notorious for requiring a couple hundred people to operate the ship during peacetime, but often carried close to 500 men during wartime. Tacticians and strategists alike knew that you lose men when you meet the enemy, so the Fletcher's carried almost twice as many men as necessary.
Navigation is no different. A system goes down, use another system. In this case, as long as trained men remain alive, they can look at the sky, and at least guesstimate where they are. A few simple tools enables those trained men to determine their position pretty precisely, even when there is no electricity flowing anywhere on the ship.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 28 2018, @07:06AM
From a guy who has been out for decades? Your lack of Security Clearance is betraying you, Russian spy!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 28 2018, @06:09PM (2 children)
If there is no electricity, then that means no radio and no movement. Navigation is pointless.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Monday May 28 2018, @11:29PM (1 child)
You are mistaken. The Captain's gig, the whaleboat, and the life rafts can all move. The navigator still needs to be able to tell them which way to move.
I've forgotten the proper form of the abandon ship message. Something like, "the nearest land bears 260 degrees magnetic north, at 58 nautical miles, the nearest FRIENDLY land bears 230 degrees magnetic north at 275 nautical miles". I don't have it exactly right, but it's close enough to get the idea. The announcement goes on to note the sea conditions, wind speed and direction, and the water current.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 29 2018, @03:38AM
Anything that moves in a non-trivial manner can provide electricity for navigational equipment.
If you're just paddling, the only navigation you need is to point at a visible rescue ship or island. The energy you'd spend on serious paddling will cause you to use up your supplies of food and water. Humans who paddle across the ocean are right up there with arctic explorers, ultramarathon runners, and Everest climbers.