Statement from Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson on USS John S. McCain

Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson released this statement Aug. 21 on USS John S. McCain, which was involved in a collision with the merchant vessel Alnic MC while underway east of the Straits of Malacca and Singapore on Aug. 21. (U.S. Navy video/Released)

[elenatabycat]

Admiral John> Ty for the update, info, and heartfelt words. My thoughts and prayers are with the missing sailors and those sailors that were lost due to this tragic event, their loved ones and shipmates. May God Be With You. Admiral John, my heart and prayers are with you during this time of great sorrow.

[Fulltimer]

I will never understand how a U.S. Navy ship with the best systems and people that money can buy allows a merchant vessel to put your ship in harms way. Why wasn't evasive action taken if you can not get another ship to leave your immediate vicinity. When a ship is moving at 10 knots it should never get near a warship. Leadership on this ship and probably others is totally gone.

[flywheel]

Hard to believe that a several billion dollar, state of the art warship capable of tracking and fighting dozens of divergent targets simultaneously, cannot steer its way clear of a lumbering merchantman. It boggles the mind to try and understand one occurance, let alone two. Hard time chalking these incidents up as "Bad Seamanship". We the people, will probably never rate an honest answer.

[johnmcnaught]

Again? Is there nobody on the Plot? Are there no Lookouts? Even if the merchant intended to ram, evasion should be child's play for a vessel of this type, even in a busy sea lane. This is not a tech thing, but People! Even this old retiree is embarrassed. Maybe it's just too many sensors, and not enough Mark 1 Eyeballs!

[qrstuvwxyz]

Admiral, the US Navy needs a new leadership

[johnrichardson]

One year gone but the impact speaks volume.

[daleecoleman]

Those STAND DOWNS have worked well with AIRCRAFT maintenance.THANK YOU for taking this action.

[oldgoatf]

Admiral, as a retired SMCS we both know that trying to do more with less is a contributing factor to both of these incidents. I would simply ask were they in any form or fashion of sea and anchor detail?? Being in a sea lane with such a high volume of traffic used to demand it; Qm's on both bridge wings and fwd, aft, port & stbd lookouts and having those personnel is directly related to maintaining situational awareness on all surface contacts. Were there any checklists completed in the previous 24 hrs? Normally at a minimum propulsion and rudder checks would have to be completed prior to some form or version of navigation brief would be held to prevent Accidents!!, for the life of me I cannot understand what is going on my NAVY. I want to think there is some secret weapon being used against us but I know better. When I was at ATG Mayport I saw the writing on the wall when aegis ships started reducing their bridge manning. Please fix

[necup]

John Richardson is on it, it will be taken care of...

[joistein]

This is unbelievable, to day we have self driven cars i traffic but a ship on the sea crashes with another ship at low speed?

[ragimundvonwallat]

Forrest Gump is at the head of US navy LOL ''navy is like a chocolate box, when you shake the box sometimes the chocos goes bang pow on each other ''


hahaha

[teddyballgame]

How about honesty and not covering up the incident like the Fitzgerald .

[SanBrunoBeacon]

I have been noticing that the sides of many U.S. Navy ships are covered with rust. This is a primary indication of poor maintenance. Why isn't the rust being removed from the warships? Rust is not only damaging our warships, but also sending a message to potential U.S. adversaries that the U.S. Navy is not maintaining its ships.

[billm]

:
The CNO mentioned he wanted the force to examine how the Surface Warfare Officers (SWO's) are trained and certified .
I think everyone needs to realize there is no standard in this area. Each CO can certify whoever they wish. In my day (years ago while serving in the NAVY) there was PQS (Personnel Qualification Standard). This entailed getting signatures to prove you had stood the requisite number of training watches and demonstrated the required knowledge of a particular subject.
As for standing the Officer of the Deck Watch underway the CO is ultimately responsible for approving that person to stand the watch.
Now for the shocker.... the Navy has an inspection team that examines almost every aspect of shipboard operations.
But they don't have one in this area, never have. So the end result is that one ship qualifies their officers to stand the watch one way and another ship does it completely different.
Case in point. I was homeported on a cruiser in Yokosuka in the early 80's. One day the Operations Officer said to me that the CO said you are ready to stand Officer of the Deck Underway and just like that, no board, no examining PQS, I was standing the midwatch that night in some of the busiest shipping lanes in the world. And if you think this was an isolated case your sadly mistaken.

It doesnt matter how sophisticated the radars are, how many lookouts you have, or all that other crap and clickbait I read. Can that officer remain cool under pressure; is he / she able to interpret all the information there is coming in and most importantly can they be relied on to call the CO in accordance with his Standing Orders.

What inspection team can assess that?

[abcpan]

There was a party in progress on the destroyer at the time of the collision. The captain was engaged in a beer drinking competition. Female sailors were performing as strippers giving table dances. Club music was blasting out of the entire ship's intercom system.

[navythomas]

Try starting with that stupid minimum man concept.

[slither]

This American navy ship was attacked like the Fitsgerald

[BoopShooBee]

The brass will try to pin this on some lowly seaman apprentice.

[Bekind]

Something isn't accurate with the sonars. That's what I think. Rest In Peace to the sailors that lost their lives I feel so much pain for their families

[daleecoleman]

Something to consider in your evaluations is for the possibility of excessive reliance on Automated Systems.Their use should be for ENHANCEMENT and AUGMENTATION. Machines now and in the near future cannot take the PLACE of a caring, thinking alert HUMAN BEING with the ability make thoughtful but quick decisions."Risk is part of the game if you want to sit in that (Captain's)Chair".Machines have no ability to take risks, only actions based SOLELY on computer algorithms.. PEOPLE need to do that, especially when lives are at stake. "Lives at stake" is your constant task.