Ship Collisions Prompt Navy Research into Sleep Deprivation

"The command leadership allowed the schedule of events preceding the collision to fatigue the crew." What a crock of BS! This has been going on in the NAVY - and I mean ALL of the world's Navies since the beginning of time. The Mission has always come first for any Military service and if we can grab some sleep along the way that is just wonderful; ask any member of any service during any time of war and buddy, you better train like you fight!

Now it would be great if we had the luxury to man our ships like luxury liners and have so many crewmembers that we could work 8 hours a day or less, but then we would have frigates the size of aircraft carriers just to provide berthing spaces. I KNOW we need some better options when it comes to being able to get better sleep on ships at sea, and perhaps making sure that when we go to sea, all of our maintenance is up to date and manning is at 100% would be a great beginning.

Do we really need to spend thousands or even millions of bucks to find out that the average Sailor, this includes Chiefs and Officers - yes even the CMC and CO/XO - in the equation of lacking sleep?

Hey skipper - let me toss out this idea - two hours after Breakfast to clean the berthing area and then go to Dark Compartment at sea. No unscheduled inspections just to look at them. YES, I know we need to drill, fire drills, helo ops, etc, but how about during the same 2 hour time frame as much as possible and not every day, unless in GITMO. Then after evening Chow - same thing - time to relax as much as possible. Sure there can be days that we might want to have steel beach picnics, movie calls, etc, but they can be relaxed affairs as well. Morale improves with SLEEP more than anything!

Save the money used for the servey and buy more comfortable mattresses!

I don't think we need research into sleep deprivation. It's always been there. That is a red herring, designed to distract from the real problem - watchstanders aren't trained as well as they used to be, and there is far too much reliance on the wizardry of things like Aegis.

Well duh.