Review: Ship-handling issues

The Navy’s senior surface fleet leadership conducted a 3-month internal review and found that nearly 85 percent of junior officers (JOs) had either some or significant concerns in ship-handling and many struggled to react decisively to move their ship out of danger when there was immediate risk of collision, according to an internal message obtained by Defense News. Lead by the Surface Warfare Officer School, officer of the deck competency checks were conducted on a random selection of OOD-qualified first-tour division officers in underway bridge navigation simulators fleet-wide. Of the 164 evaluated officers only 27 passed with “no concerns.” A total of 108 completed with “some concerns” and 29 had “significant concerns,” according to the message released by the top surface warfare officer, Vice Adm. Richard Brown of Naval Surface Force Pacific. He termed the results as “sobering.” The evaluations raise significant questions about the level of ship-handling training JOs get both prior to arriving at their first command, and how good is that training. Among the shortfalls: JOs struggled with operating radars and associated tools, an issue that emerged in the wake of the USS Fitzgerald accident that claimed the lives of 17 sailors last summer; and a direct factor in both the Fitzgerald and USS John S. McCain collisions in 2017. (Source: Defense News 06/05/18) Gulf Coast Note: USS Fitzgerald is undergoing repairs, and upgrades, currently at Huntington Ingalls Industries’ Ingalls shipyard in Pascagoula, Miss.