NAVY: “The secretary of the U.S. Navy plans to unveil potentially far-reaching changes in the wake of a deadly collisions at sea that led to the dismissal Wednesday of two top commanders.
Navy Secretary Richard V. Spencer said the ‘stress and strain’ on Navy crews in the Pacific from the high pace of operations clearly played a role in the accidents in Asia.
Two high-profile ship collisions this year claimed the lives of 17 sailors, prompting the Navy to review how it operates.
The Navy on Wednesday sacked the commanding officer and executive officer of the USS John S. McCain after the ship collided with a civilian tanker Aug. 21. The collision tore a hole in the destroyer and killed 10 service members…
Sen. John McCain (R., Ariz), the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, has said the accidents are part of a larger trend of military units being asked to do too much with too little. Mr. McCain has said the military must make better assessments of what they need…
The command environment, Mr. Spencer said, must be able to receive such warnings and not hold it against more junior officers.
But Mr. Spencer also defended the accountability culture of the Navy, which led to the ouster of the commanders of the McCain and Fitzgerald as well as other senior admirals.”
-Julian E. Barnes and Robert Wall, “U.S. Navy Secretary Foresees ‘Cultural’ Shift Among Sailors, Officers,” The Wall Street Journal online, Oct. 11, 2017 02:43pm