Friday, April 3, 2020

NOT UNEXPECTED

I see the Navy has taken appropriate action today and fired the Commanding Officer of USS Theodore Roosevelt.

The officer that he worked directly for was right there next to him at dinner last night because I don't believe our carriers put to sea anymore without a Strike Group Staff commanded by an admiral somewhere on board. Conditions were satisfied when he told the Strike Group Commander what he thought was necessary. The captain knew he was sinking his career by taking the action he did to tell the whole world that Big Navy was being mean and not letting him land 5000 possibly contagious people on a beach somewhere with access to 20th century medicine and plenty of isolation. I'm not sure how he thought Big Navy was going to pull that rabbit out of its arse overnight.


7 comments:

Borepatch said...

I disagree pretty strongly, for a bunch of reasons. Boiling it down: so it's entirely appropriate to shut down the whole economy to prevent a disastrous spread of the disease, but keeping 6000 sailors cooped up on a plague ship is entirely appropriate?

This is either a problem for America or it isn't.

Anonymous said...

I was aboard CVA59 several years and you are completely right. This Capt. purposely embarrassed the Navy to pretend he cared more than anyone else. Anyone who is too sick for the infirmary is quickly heloed off. This should not of happened.

Borepatch said...

Anonymous, glad you're protecting the Navy Chain Of Command rather than addressing the issue I raised.

Rib said...

We don’t know enough. It wouldn’t be the first time a COC has said suck it up, or you’re f***ked. If you think it’s important enough, I don’t think the Nuremberg defense will help you sleep at night.

Roy said...

Regardless of what Borepatch says, I also believe the action was appropriate.
When I first heard about the outbreak onboard CVN-71, the very first thing I thought was: "Why was this released to the public?"

The loss of the combat effectiveness of an active CV battle group should have remained classified.

COVID-19 is not the only enemy out there.

HMS Defiant said...

What we expect of every single person in our military is that they follow orders. The CO basically blew off the admiral sitting right there next to him and made public something that should have stayed in the dark for obvious national security reasons. We don't usually tell the world we are short a carrier when it's deployed to 7th Fleet or 5th Fleet. They're a powerful symbol.

The military does what it is ordered to do. Under Obama this took the form of him ordering our military medical and engineer types to Congo to help fight the ebola virus and they went and they did what they were told despite the clear and obvious danger that the virus represented.

Is there some cold blooded calculating bastard sitting in the Pentagon who weighs the options and makes recommendations on what is best for the nation? Yes.
Did one of those put forth the 3 COAs that would give the Commander in Chief some options? Hell yes!
Did a plane load of choroquine drugs land on that ship in the last 7 days? Almost certainly.

The CO basically proved that he is incapable of maintaining good order and discipline by publicly questioning not just his chain of command but the Commander in Chief. Nobody wearing the uniform gets to do that, EVER.

Albeit, one can do it but he knows the price going in when he does. It will result in immediate relief for cause and possibly dismissal and certainly an impromptu change of command if the one unable to follow orders happens to be in command.

I understand you have skin in the game. I used to but no more. One of the most important aspects of the military is that one follows lawful orders. The skipper broke that rule by making public a disagreement he had a right to voice within his chain of command but he took it public and violated the trust his superiors had a right to expect from him.

SCOTTtheBADGER said...

Concur.