ON LEADERSHIP

 I noted last night that the USS Spruance deployed November 21, 2025 and she is still, on assignment and deployed to somewhere in the vicinity of the Indian Ocean. I'm afraid the article at Navy Times was distinctly unhelpful in reporting where the ship might be but did let me know that it had deployed to the IO and North Arabian Sea with the Lincoln Battle Group. At any rate, the good ship is still deployed after almost 354 days. That's a long time in that part of the world. Ask me how I know.

At any rate, the ship and a few others are defining the difference between show navies and navies that can endure. I'm pretty sure that Spruance is not tied up in Jebel Ali or even Fujairah and certainly not spending time pierside in Bahrain. With any luck no dimwit at the State Department will suggest it make a Brief Stop for Fuel in Aden or spread the joy in Mogadishu. Nope, odds are they pull off the line and spend a week in Djibuout. Poor bastards.

It is not too hard for me to see the kind of leadership challenge the ship faces after its Battle Group melted away and left it holding the bag all alone in the North Arabian Sea. Oh sure it has company but it deployed as part of a Battle Group that Third Fleet extensively trained, evaluated, and certified as fully mission capable and interoperable with the Lincoln Battle Group. Nobody said anything about shopping it to another group or leaving it to steam independently. On the other hand, that's the USN.

The real stress to the crews that I experienced in the Gulf were the open ended return dates. It was nothing to this unmarried lieutenant but the married guys and those that wanted a hell of a lot more out of life really wanted to KNOW when they could be expected to head home. 

Keeping this kind of warship at Iran's front door for this long is a testament to the leadership on the ship, the dedication and truly hard work of the crew and the efforts of those sustaining the ships out there. It is regrettable that this is sometimes necessary and the most regrettable part is that not all the ships and men can reach this pinnacle of sustained effort. What that means is that even more falls on the shoulders of those who can.

That's the hidden aspect that nobody ever talks about. It only takes one little mistake to push the ship off the line and back to port. Keeping those mistakes from happening is the real triumph of good leadership. I would call this type of leadership motivational. People don't fear the consequences anymore so it takes more than threats, it takes an appeal to the qualities that make for good sailors and good men and women. I'm gratified to see that they are still serving with distinction.

I would be fascinated to see if the USN holds a change of command for the Captain while his ship is deployed or if they let the current CO bring her home.  This sort of thing makes a huge dent in everybody's plans and the effects ring down the months and years ahead.