Fitzgerald’s CO and sailors standing watch face discipline in fatal collision

Heads are starting to roll, (as they should) Three watch teams failed to avoid an avoidable event. We train for this, this is out job and they decided to not do it. Every last one of them on thoes watches should be bounced and get some Brig time. I see this as total dereliction of duty by Combat, Bridge, and Lookouts. The CO while he is responsible for everything that happens on his ship was in his rack and almost lost his live in the initial hit. The Triad has to be replaced I get it, but its a shame his career will come to an end because people were to lazy to do their jobs.

Thanks for letting us know PO1 Tony Holland. To be honest I am not surprised that the chain of command is facing command disciplinary action in the wake of the fatal collision with the Philippine flagged cargo vessel.

Well, someone has to hang in the case of a Navy ship having a collision where 7 Sailors die. And of course, we need to get swift justice no matter what. But I wonder if all of the facts are known, even now as the Admiral is preparing to hold Mast? Yes, the Commanding Officer has the ultimate responsibility for everything that happens on his/her ship, I know that.

Let's take a look at an interesting timeline that was just sort of touched upon in the article:
Cmdr. Bryce Benson, the CO, took command of Fitzgerald less than a month before the fatal incident.
Cmdr. Sean M. Babbitt came aboard in March.
Command Master Chief Brice A. Baldwin had been on Fitzgerald since 2014.

CMDCM Clarence "Frenchie" Frye 1LT Sandy Annala

I believe that both the CO and XO were under the impression that the Bridge crew was fully trained and competent. They had probably observed the TEAM in action enough times to form that opinion and trust them. I am not sure what went wrong this day.

I do not know CMDCM Baldwin personally, but he started out as an ET like me. He has been on 4 ships, a Cruiser, Gator, and this is his second DDG, so I think he is fairly familiar with ships and being at sea, but that is all I can say about him. I was personally involved with the Command Training Team on my ships when I was there as CMC, so I taught Firefighting and Damage Control, but I was not a Navigator and didn't spend a lot of time on the Bridge at 1:30 in the morning during routine evolutions. I would have probably been in my rack or in the mess playing cards or watching a movie.

This was not an accident, but it was not something that I really believe was the fault of the senior members of the chain. Having said that, someone has to hang. Sorry guys.