This was a given

Military 15 Comments

You have a collision at sea, your career is pretty much done.

Cmdr. Bryce Benson, commander of the Fitzgerald, and Cmdr. Sean Babbitt, the ship’s second-in-command, were fired from their positions because the Navy “lost trust and confidence in their ability to lead,” Adm. William F. Moran, the vice chief of naval operations, told reporters.
The pair were among about a dozen sailors on the destroyer, including the top enlisted sailor, who could face discipline for the June 17 collision with the Philippine-flagged merchant vessel ACX Crystal about 50 nautical miles southwest of the Japanese port of Yokosuka.

15 Replies to “This was a given”

  1. I don’t think you could be much more incompetent than to let a freighter run into your starboard side. A freighter no less. About as big and the Empire State building just not quite as maneuverable. Then to let it hit on the starboard side which means the destroyer was completely in the wrong. Had the freighter hit the port side then the freighter could have been at fault for failing to yield right of way but it was hit on the starboard side which meant the destroyer was to yield right of way. The only way the destroyer was hit was through gross negligence on the part of the destroyer’s crew.

  2. BC Ferry that hit island, driver that ran into back of my bus at a stop, that’s gross.
    Thistook some “effort”.

  3. But, your gross negligence at navigating a ship will be vehemently defended if you belong to the BC Ferry and Marine Workers Union. It’s A-OK with them, hell, they will even keep you from being interviewed by the authorities and from being held responsible for your gross negligence.
    Even when that gross negligence results in the death of innocent passengers.

  5. I wonder if this has something to do with the fact that the Annapolis Naval Academy is going to start teaching celestial navigation again since most modern naval types can’t operate if their electronics go down. HMMMM? You never know. This is reminiscent of the old joke about the American aircraft carrier and the lighthouse.

  6. Another instance where the CO was asleep “getting some rack time” during operations in congested waters. Happened on submarines, several other destroyers, and other ships. The old Royal Navy custom of “flogging around the fleet” might be appropriate.

  7. He was probably too busy filling out paperwork concerning the carbon foot his ship was leaving, as well as reviewing new LGBTQLMNOP rules for compliance, to be concerned about little things like steering the ship.

  8. Dismissal seems pretty harsh.
    It’s like taking a drunk drivers licence away for a year after they crash their stolen vehicle into a family in a mini van.
    Don’t we all deserve a second or third or forth chance?

  9. When you have a screw-up that bad (and that sort of collision was REALLY bad), odds are you are going to find a pretty serious breakdown in operational discipline. There were multiple layers of procedures and people who should have been able to keep this situation from devolving through multiple levels of failure. The fact that systems proven to work did not do so speaks volumes about command accountability. I would be surprised if careers were NOT ended for the ENTIRE top layers of command (including non-commissioned leaders), in addition to any actions against individuals who were directly responsible.

  10. WORST ships Captain since Jeffery Hazlewood ! … however … no seals were harmed … only enlisted men.

  14. Hazlewood was apparently hung over and was sleeping it off when the Exxon Valdez weighed anchor that night. Two strikes against him right there.

  15. Too bad the captain’s name wasn’t “Kennedy”…..he might’ve gone on to become POTUS…

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