We Need To Go Back To Basics.
Last year, at 5 o ’ clock in the morning on the 21st of August, the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS John S. McCainwas approaching Singapore ’ s easternmost traffic separation scheme, just east of the Malacca Strait. She ’ d just overtaken a slightly larger, Liberian-flagged tanker M/V Alnic MC, leaving her well astern on her port quarter. There were numerous watchstanders on the bridge. The weather was apparently exceptional. Speed, according to a com-prehensive U.S. Navy review of the tragedy that would soon ensue, was 20 knots.
There were, however, some issues that seemed minor at the time. First, three of the watchstanders were on temporary duty from another ship that was under repair, the USS , which some months before had suffered propeller and other damages while attempting to anchor in Tokyo Bay. Although the three were officially listed as qualified to stand watch on the ship, none of them had enough training to do so. Mostly, they were on board to gain underway time while the was in drydock. Second, the ’s conning officer—a pivotal individual in terms of day-to-day navigation—was a freshly minted ensign who was also relatively new to the ship and had not attended the Navy’s Basic Division Officer Course, which mixes simulator training with instruction in navigation, seamanship, shiphandling, engineering, and damage control. And third, against the had put off turning out the ship’s so-called “Sea and Anchor Detail” in order to give its members some much-needed rest. That decision would unfortunately leave individuals with considerable knowledge of steering-related technologies in their racks—and not on the bridge—at what would prove to be a critical time.
