USS Harry S. Truman Collision

[Pilot Fighter]

One minute you're 6 months into a likely 9-month deployment thinking of home then all of a sudden the sound of tearing metal and BOOM. You're calling the wife or family members to let them know your career is over....

Well, unless you had an admiral’s pedigree, your career was almost over anyway. Retiring at O-6,
not a bad gig.

A skipper punches out, pilot error, no horrible lapses of judgment, is flying in a couple of weeks and finishes his tour.

Boat hits something or runs aground and the skipper is done, even if he’s authorized to be asleep in his bunk.

 

[JEP]

Well, unless you had an admiral’s pedigree, your career was almost over anyway. Retiring at O-6,
not a bad gig.

A skipper punches out, pilot error, no horrible lapses of judgment, is flying in a couple of weeks and finishes his tour.

Boat hits something or runs aground and the skipper is done, even if he’s authorized to be asleep in his bunk.

Yup completely understand. Any chance of a star is gone and like you said O-6 Retirement cant be a bad gig. Just the ending on a sour note would eat at people, at least for a little....I would think.

 

[Pilot Fighter]

Yup completely understand. Any chance of a star is gone and like you said O-6 Retirement cant be a bad gig. Just the ending on a sour note would eat at people, at least for a little....I would think.

Yeah, it sucks. However, it’s a footnote to an otherwise stellar career.

My sympathies go out to O-4’s that got screwed out of O-5 and didn’t get a command opportunity.

 

[Seggy]

Ahem...

Disaster in the Pacific

Broken ships. Poor training. Ignored warnings. Multiple tragedies. The world’s most powerful armada in decline.

www.propublica.org

The Inside Story of How the Navy Spent Billions on the “Little Crappy Ship”

Littoral combat ships were supposed to launch the Navy into the future. Instead they broke down across the globe and many of their weapons never worked. Now the Navy is getting rid of them. One is less than five years old.

www.propublica.org

 

[///AMG]

Well, unless you had an admiral’s pedigree, your career was almost over anyway. Retiring at O-6,
not a bad gig.

A skipper punches out, pilot error, no horrible lapses of judgment, is flying in a couple of weeks and finishes his tour.

Boat hits something or runs aground and the skipper is done, even if he’s authorized to be asleep in his bunk.

I'd argue that a successful CVN CO tour is "admiral's pedigree". That's one of the few gigs that almost guarantees promotion to one star. Provided you don't hit something, or otherwise get fired.

 

[JEP]

Ahem...

Disaster in the Pacific

Broken ships. Poor training. Ignored warnings. Multiple tragedies. The world’s most powerful armada in decline.

www.propublica.org

The Inside Story of How the Navy Spent Billions on the “Little Crappy Ship”

Littoral combat ships were supposed to launch the Navy into the future. Instead they broke down across the globe and many of their weapons never worked. Now the Navy is getting rid of them. One is less than five years old.

www.propublica.org

did you have a thought or point other than "Ahem" ? The problems with the LCS vessels were known. Similar in the sense of the Ford-class carrier (and those in different phases of construction). The USS Ford has not been the cost-saving super-carrier that many hoped. Hope they get the kinks worked out for those. It is one-bad ass machine.

 

[Roger Roger]

did you have a thought or point other than "Ahem" ? The problems with the LCS vessels were known. Similar in the sense of the Ford-class carrier (and those in different phases of construction). The USS Ford has not been the cost-saving super-carrier that many hoped. Hope they get the kinks worked out for those. It is one-bad ass machine.

Not building just one of those ships would probably save more money than all of the civil service cuts DOGE has made.

 

[JEP]

I'd argue that a successful CVN CO tour is "admiral's pedigree". That's one of the few gigs that almost guarantees promotion to one star. Provided you don't hit something, or otherwise get fired.

that's kind of what I always thought. You either ride out the career as O-6 or add that star. That has to be the epitome of a Naval flight career. No idea how big the pipeline is but there are only 11 of those positions out there.

 

[JEP]

Not building just one of those ships would probably save more money than all of the civil service cuts DOGE has made.

Perhaps.....LCS maybe $350-$600 million depending on type....Now for the carriers they'll keep extending those until they get the Ford-class figured out....

 

[Autothrust Blue]

did you have a thought or point other than "Ahem" ? The problems with the LCS vessels were known. Similar in the sense of the Ford-class carrier (and those in different phases of construction). The USS Ford has not been the cost-saving super-carrier that many hoped. Hope they get the kinks worked out for those. It is one-bad ass machine.

Seventh Fleet's navigation, manning and operations tempo problems aren't exactly secret, though.

 

[Pilot Fighter]

I'd argue that a successful CVN CO tour is "admiral's pedigree". That's one of the few gigs that almost guarantees promotion to one star. Provided you don't hit something, or otherwise get fired.

Considering the number of admiral-led commands, I’m going to quickly concede. In fact, I can see how there could be an admiral shortage if a few folks retire prematurely.

 

[Autothrust Blue]

Considering the number of admiral-led commands, I’m going to quickly concede. In fact, I can see how there could be an admiral shortage if a few folks retire prematurely.

There was a great graphic in this book:

https://www.amazon.com/Fat-Leonard-Bribed-Bilked-Seduced-ebook/dp/B0CL5F5YFL/ref=sr_1_1?crid=58YNRUJEIC81&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.2fT5ThaB_M8ixR7ogqrl6h8yngHf34lvYTFLV_8nvxdUMvzYY0x8TBEVQlCiPBx-mYpF3bKLa7ra-BLRn_ngF-drmcVqxnqAn4KEIARf2vlrrMipCWZQcbieGR8hC0ldxR64rp7WwTXqMgUSexQu5ehjgTjwThQYGfb4uawsBhh4HdcQGa3J4Gl-Jfz48vGz3K38c2niJwTKmYvNGNqc6BCotUOlV9TGooi1ZxPsfU0.vCjJ8dKXBEDEzoTnY11Y8dAkTQSCptXriYYTH1iCP3Y&dib_tag=se&keywords=fat+leonard&qid=1740167677&sprefix=fat+leona%2Caps%2C164&sr=8-1

that broke down the number of officers by grade in the Navy. I found it rather interesting to see exactly how many LCDRs and the like there were compared to the rest of the force.

Incidentally, speaking of fragging an entire generation of 'leaders,' ha!

 

[JEP]

Seventh Fleet's navigation, manning and operations tempo problems aren't exactly secret, though.

Not as recently familiar with the 7th fleet operations. Although I was a Pearl Harbor/San Diego based sailor that was was 35 years ago. I have kept up recently on the East Coast (Norfolk-based) ships as my son is on TheIke. My one deployment on the Ranger was 6 months to the day and now at least for the VA. based carriers 9-months seems to be the norm. TheIke was just about 9 months and now they are back in the yards for PIA and 15-18 months depending on who you ask. After that, right back out to sea trials and deployment. Deploy, get em in, fix em and get back out....

 

[Autothrust Blue]

Not as recently familiar with the 7th fleet operations. Although I was a Pearl Harbor/San Diego based sailor that was was 35 years ago. I have kept up recently on the East Coast (Norfolk-based) ships as my son is on TheIke. My one deployment on the Ranger was 6 months to the day and now at least for the VA. based carriers 9-months seems to be the norm. TheIke was just about 9 months and now they are back in the yards for PIA and 15-18 months depending on who you ask. After that, right back out to sea trials and deployment. Deploy, get em in, fix em and get back out....

Seventh Fleet is completely frakked, for various reasons. The ProPublica link the Wookiee posted above is pretty eye-opening.

 

[///AMG]

that's kind of what I always thought. You either ride out the career as O-6 or add that star. That has to be the epitome of a Naval flight career. No idea how big the pipeline is but there are only 11 of those positions out there.

Yeah, there are definitely more one stars than there are CVN's, the other track that keeps you competitive for flag is being selected for and completing a CAG (Carrier Air Wing Commander) tour. I'm sure there are some other means in weird corners of aviation like AEDO for promotion, but those are very small (smaller) numbers and pretty esoteric.

 

[Lawman]

I agree, though I'd also add, shoot two F/A-18's on final to the carrier you are the shotgun cruiser for, and I guess you still get the band. Looking at you Gettysburg......

Point of order.

I had an O6 who wasn’t removed for having a negligent discharge and shooting his copilot (ricocheted through the panel). He was however ended when a soldier under his command gave birth in Afghanistan.


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[Pilot Fighter]

Point of order.

I had an O6 who wasn’t removed for having a negligent discharge and shooting his copilot (ricocheted through the panel). He was however ended when a soldier under his command gave birth in Afghanistan.


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Sounds like a couple cases of negligent discharge.

 

[Lawman]

Sounds like a couple cases of negligent discharge.

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[Autothrust Blue]

I had an O6 who wasn’t removed for having a negligent discharge and shooting his copilot (ricocheted through the panel). He was however ended when a soldier under his command gave birth in Afghanistan.

"The Army, in its infinite wisdom, promoted Frank to Lieutenant Colonel..."

 

[///AMG]

Point of order.

I had an O6 who wasn’t removed for having a negligent discharge and shooting his copilot (ricocheted through the panel). He was however ended when a soldier under his command gave birth in Afghanistan.


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Impeccable priorities haha

We had a CAG discharge his combat issue SIG sidearm into a ready room chair when he was fiddling with it before a mission a number of years ago. Don't think he was relieved, but ever since, you can guess the weapon condition we were authorized to fly with it in. Obviously personal technique "varied", to include not obeying that instruction