Plus, the 600 pound gorilla of the force, the superb organization and culture for Engineering training. It all eats time. Which everybody has the same amount of, which is to say, not enough.

Operations and Tactics, also known as why the boat exists, can slip to below
Engineering and Maintenence. Way below.

Unless the Commodore, Captain and XO teach, preach, practice and emphasize that ORSE is necessary, but not sufficient. The hard part is that the top of the pyramid has to denonstrate expertise, presence in the ship control and weapons spaces, commitment to mentor JO’s and LPO’s, esteem for the personnel – who can take way too much ribbing from the nukes – and….leave room for initiative, innovation and growth.

Because Operations and Tactics are performance art.

All submarining is to a degree, but shipdriving is so to a greater degree than back aft, where procedural compliance, regulations and deep DEEP technical knowlege of the equipment tends to put more weight on that side of the teeter-totter.

Which is why an UBER boat has an UBER CO, and will, in time, often emit UBER ex XO’s and Ex DH’s who become UBER CO’s and XO’s in their own right who create, for a time, more UBER boats.

The great god MURPHY permitting.

I think this sentance alone is the crux of this, and many other accidents. No one ever wants to be the one to say, “Nope, can’t get it done.” It’s in the genes. We’re men of the sea, we make it happen. There’s nothing we can’t get done. Blah blah blah.

No one ever wakes up going, “Hmmmm….how can I completely screw up today?” In the interest of “getting it done” you lose sight of the bigger picture, which causes you to lose sight of the details that are telling you something is wrong.

What I don’t see in the above is the ” IF the individual SPEAKs UP and points out the things that could go wrong, or offer alternatives, then the individual will be downrated and told they are not a “team player”. That their “negative attitude” is “detrimental to the function of this unit” that “further motivational exercises are required to correct the efficiency of this individual” and “reassignment to a non flying position is indicated”. I’m sure a few of the leading O types can find much better examples of “dismissal phrases” from recent evolutions than my fast fading memories. The beatings will continue until the morale improves.

See a few of those, justifiable or not, and any wonder that “can do!” overcomes “logic, reason, and rationality”? There is a fine line between discipline and outright dictatorship espoused by many LPo’s. “My way or the highway” is the leadership cliche. Not by example but by fiat. “Shut up and soldier” Rationality leaves in the face of shut up and fly or speak up and scrub the head.

Unfortunate for all concerned that the loss of rationality is not discovered until a few lives and another $50 million light up hillside, Grandpa Pettibone trots out old columns for the “Safety Shirt Special”, all make a mandatory safety stand down all hands evolution where some talking head spouts the company line about “SAFETY FIRST!” and maybe even passes out a freebie pen or mouse pad these days with the company CAN DO! motto artfully silk screened upon, the later everybody goes back to work…. and the LPo’s start the former policy all over again. Because that is the Navy way. We’ve done it this way since 1776 and by God! we’ll do it this way forever.

Not that I am cynical you understand. Me? Nope. No way. uh-uh.