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posted by janrinok on Sunday May 27 2018, @11:58PM   Printer-friendly
from the example-to-our-business-leaders dept.

Submitted via IRC for guy_

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.

Source: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2018/05/27/former-commander-uss-john-s-mccain-pleads-guilty-retires-after-deadly-collision.html


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 28 2018, @02:18PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 28 2018, @02:18PM (#685132)

    Not much of a coverup of what happened on the ships.
    The Navy published a pretty good report on this.
    Quite a few gory details.
    Definitely a three stooges performance.

    http://s3.amazonaws.com/CHINFO/USS+Fitzgerald+and+USS+John+S+McCain+Collision+Reports.pdf [amazonaws.com]

    For this accident, see page 47 section 2.2.
    This one was poor training made worse by the UI used to switch steering control.

    If there was a coverup it might be that tasking given the ships from higher command left little chance for anything else to happen.

    The Fitzgerald was much worse.
    I think they planned a course without being aware of the shipping lane.
    Unfortunate mix of arrogance and neglect.

    I hope the good news is that after the second incident, they stopped and looked at what they were doing.
    The emphasis for mission over seamanship is understandable except that mission depends on seamanship.
    Too many cases of getting away with it made them forget this.