USNS Mercy Hits USS Arizona Dock

[mekender]

http://www.navytimes.com/story/military ... /28035863/

Oopsie!

[tfbncc]

That is NOT going to look good on the Captain's resume.

[PawPaw]

That is NOT going to look good on the Captain's resume.

That's what I was thinking. Damaging the Arizona memorial is probably the biggest "aw-shit" that a sailor can make. This guy's going to have trouble getting a license to navigate a rowboat on a farm pond.

[Netpackrat]

There seems to be some question as to whether it was the Mercy that hit, or a tugboat.

[skb12172]

While mentioning it could be either, the article keeps asserting it was the tug as if it were fact. Is this going to blow back on the Mercy skipper anyway? I know that Navy life isn't fair, especially when you are in the big chair.

[Netpackrat]

I suspect that being in command of a hospital ship is probably somewhat limiting in terms of further naval career options in its own right. Seems like it's near the peak of that career field; there can only be just so many slots for admirals who are also qualified doctors and/or hospital administrators.

[Vonz90]

Navy Doctors are not line officers and are not eligible for command at sea. The medical department would be commanded by a Navy Doctor if they were fully manned up but they only keep a skeleton medical staff on it most of the time.

The Mercy is USNS, so the CO is a civilian anyway.

One of the very "not fair" things in the life of a CO, is when you are hooked up to tugs, they have more control over where you are going than you do, yet the CO (and OOD) is on the hook for the results.

That said, I think the review boards are mostly pretty reasonable. My first ship had been in two collisions shortly before I got there, but both were judged the other guys fault and the CO was not relieved or reprimanded.

[skb12172]

Navy Doctors are not line officers and are not eligible for command at sea. The medical department would be commanded by a Navy Doctor if they were fully manned up but they only keep a skeleton medical staff on it most of the time.

The Mercy is USNS, so the CO is a civilian anyway.

One of the very "not fair" things in the life of a CO, is when you are hooked up to tugs, they have more control over where you are going than you do, yet the CO (and OOD) is on the hook for the results.

That said, I think the review boards are mostly pretty reasonable. My first ship had been in two collisions shortly before I got there, but both were judged the other guys fault and the CO was not relieved or reprimanded.

TWO??? Holy Smokes! He was lucky.

[slowpoke]

Navy Doctors are not line officers and are not eligible for command at sea. The medical department would be commanded by a Navy Doctor if they were fully manned up but they only keep a skeleton medical staff on it most of the time.

The Mercy is USNS, so the CO is a civilian anyway.

One of the very "not fair" things in the life of a CO, is when you are hooked up to tugs, they have more control over where you are going than you do, yet the CO (and OOD) is on the hook for the results.

That said, I think the review boards are mostly pretty reasonable. My first ship had been in two collisions shortly before I got there, but both were judged the other guys fault and the CO was not relieved or reprimanded.

TWO??? Holy Smokes! He was lucky.

Bad lucky, two collisions not his fault? Thats some terrible luck.

[Vonz90]

Navy Doctors are not line officers and are not eligible for command at sea. The medical department would be commanded by a Navy Doctor if they were fully manned up but they only keep a skeleton medical staff on it most of the time.

The Mercy is USNS, so the CO is a civilian anyway.

One of the very "not fair" things in the life of a CO, is when you are hooked up to tugs, they have more control over where you are going than you do, yet the CO (and OOD) is on the hook for the results.

That said, I think the review boards are mostly pretty reasonable. My first ship had been in two collisions shortly before I got there, but both were judged the other guys fault and the CO was not relieved or reprimanded.

TWO??? Holy Smokes! He was lucky.

Bad lucky, two collisions not his fault? Thats some terrible luck.

The first was a dead stick (i.e. ship not under power) move from pier to pier and the tug team screwed up and bumped them into another ship.

The second was in the channel when a commercial fishing boat tried to squeeze in between the ship and a bridge structure and ended up scraping along the side of the ship.

I frankly considered that CO to be kind of an idiot, but there was nothing to be done in either case.