Navy relieves two officers in charge during ship collision
The U.S. Navy has removed two officers who were in charge on the U.S.S. John S. McCain when it collided with a merchant ship in August.
The McCain’s commanding officer, Cmdr. Alfredo J. Sanchez, and executive officer, Cmdr. Jessie L. Sanchez, were “relieved due to a loss of confidence,” according to statement from the US 7th Fleet in Yokosuka, Japan, the ship’s home port. “While the investigation is ongoing, it is evident the collision was preventable, the commanding officer exercised poor judgment, and the executive officer exercised poor leadership of the ship’s training program,” the statement said.
Both officers were assigned to other duties in Japan.
The story also quotes the Navy Secretary saying that this is part of a more comprehensive investigation, resulting from the spat of collisions and other ship disasters in recent months.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
The U.S. Navy has removed two officers who were in charge on the U.S.S. John S. McCain when it collided with a merchant ship in August.
The McCain’s commanding officer, Cmdr. Alfredo J. Sanchez, and executive officer, Cmdr. Jessie L. Sanchez, were “relieved due to a loss of confidence,” according to statement from the US 7th Fleet in Yokosuka, Japan, the ship’s home port. “While the investigation is ongoing, it is evident the collision was preventable, the commanding officer exercised poor judgment, and the executive officer exercised poor leadership of the ship’s training program,” the statement said.
Both officers were assigned to other duties in Japan.
The story also quotes the Navy Secretary saying that this is part of a more comprehensive investigation, resulting from the spat of collisions and other ship disasters in recent months.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
The only surprise is how long it took. As I’ve written before, the Navy always finds a scapegoat, so these reassignments are not necessarily an indicator that these officers were the main culprits.
I wonder what else they are doing to identify the scope of the problem and design remedies.
Are the two Sanchez commodores married?
Not a good idea to mix professional war fighting with family.
Completely unrelated.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2017/10/10/navy-fires-two-officers-over-uss-mccain-collision-says-deadly-accident-was-preventable/?utm_term=.27c35cae9ffd
Pics of the commanders in the above article.
I’m honestly surprised it took the Navy this long to relieve those in immediate command.
LocalFluff, that’s Commander (rank O-5, which I though was more properly abbreviated CDR than Cmdr., but perhaps I am out of date), not Commodore (no longer a rank in the USN, but an honorary title for senior Captains in charge ship squadrons).
Both the CO and XO are from Puerto Rico, but I’ve not found any indication that they are related. Sanchez is the fifth most common name in Spain and the eighth most common name among US Hispanics, so it’s most likely a coincidence.
Interestingly, the XO, a mustang, is roughly five years older than his CO. The CO, CDR Alfredo J. Sanchez, got his BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Puerto Rico in 1997, and was commissioned via OCS the following year. The XO, CDR Jessie L. Sanchez, did his last year of high school in Tennessee, graduating in 1989 and enlisting in the Navy later that year. He became a Fire Control Technician and received his commission via the Limited Duty Officer Program (Surface Ordnance) in 2001.
Their entries are still up on the USS McCain biography pages:
http://www.public.navy.mil/surfor/ddg56/Pages/Bio1.aspx#.Wd6NrjspDIU
http://www.public.navy.mil/surfor/ddg56/Pages/Bio2.aspx#.Wd6NizspDIU
Sometime in the mid 80’s, the Navy changed the name of an O-7 from “Commodore” to “Rear Admiral, Lower Half” and the name of an O-8 from “Rear Admiral” (O-8) to “Rear Admiral Upper Half.”
Apparently, some of the Navy O=7’s were envious that their equivalents in the other services (Brigadier Generals) were referred to as “General,” but they were not referred to as “Admiral.”
Or maybe that was the cover story, and they were tired of being confused with members of Lionel Ritchie’s band.
I can’t imagine how many man-hours and millions of dollars went into making that very trivial change.
Kirk–
so, are they married or what? (ha)
Garry-
good stuff.
Gilligan’s Island original intro
https://youtu.be/kpimVRP3EW4?t=26
Garry,
It was probably far, far cheaper than Gen. Shinseki’s orders changing the entire US Army over to jaunty chapeax instead of utilitarian BDU caps, and had less of an impact. (positive or negative. There was almost no one in the US Army who was happy with that change other than the social engineers pushing it)
I always liked the expression “rock painting” to describe such actions in the military.
The command post has rocks on display. A new commander comes in, and decides that the quickest way to assert his independence of mind is to have the rocks painted a new color. Instead of marksmanship training, or maintenance, or any of thousands of other useful things the troops could be doing, they’re painting the rocks a different color. It became shorthand for any petty action that wastes valuable resources (particularly time).
I don’t miss rock painters at all.