Damaged frigate to return home for repairs

http://www.navytimes.com/news/2007/06/navy_frigate_recalled_070607w/

The frigate Samuel B. Roberts is returning to its homeport of Mayport, Fla., to replace damaged screw blades, a Navy spokesman said.

The ship’s troubles began when it apparently went dead in the water May 11 while returning to port in Argentina after the annual UNITAS Atlantic exercise with other navies. The Roberts experienced "engineering difficulties" and had to be pulled into port by tugboats, said Lt. Cmdr. Jon Spiers, a Naval Forces South spokesman....

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Does this means that another CO will be fired?

what happens when a ship goes dead in the water? can they get it going again?

Another question - what happens to "fired" CO's? are they assigned shore duty? If they have 20 years in are they forced to retire? If they have less than 20 years in do they have to resign from the Navy?

If a ship loses its screw(s), there's not a whole lot the crew can do. Same goes for a damaged rudder that cannot be repaired. Just such damage doomed the BISMARCK during the earlier days of WWII.

In the case of ROBERTS, a single-screw vessel, if the shaft jams, or the blades fall off, or the reversible-pitch mechanism fails while the blades are in the wrong position, then you have a very real chance of being able to go nowhere. My ship did not carry any dive gear that I can recall, and I don't remember it being mentioned as standard anywhere else, so being able to do repairs like this at sea may not be practical.

As for fired CO's. Those with 20 years or more normally retire. Those with less often retire early. I imagine those few who are retained while awaiting enough years to retire are assigned to pointless staff jobs working for admirals and such. Certainly nothing requiring a good deal of confidence.

Command at sea is a wonderful thing, but it can bite you very, VERY hard, VERY quickly.

GreatAmerican said:

Does this means that another CO will be fired?

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Remember that a Ship's Captain is responsible for the whole enchalada. If it is determined that the failure occured due to poor maintenance practices, a close encounter with a shoal, or poor seamanship, then the skipper will have his head under the sword. If, however, it was caused by forces beyond normal expectations, then he, his Engineer and his M Div Chief are probably safe.

I was the senior enlisted watchstander on the USS Tulibee in 1978 when the entire propulsion shaft parted just inside the shaft seals. Lottsa fun. The failure was determined to be a design flaw and our skipper and crew received kuddos for casuality response and follow-up.

We just need to wait until the the Squadron Boss or Tin Can Atlantic finish to their enquiries.

SubSquid said:

I was the senior enlisted watchstander on the USS Tulibee in 1978 when the entire propulsion shaft parted just inside the shaft seals.

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HOLY CRAP!

Man, I bet your ******* took MONTHS to relax after that!

Wow.....

ETA: For those who don't know, a brief Naval Architecture lesson...

The shaft is the long, well, shaft, that connects the propulsion reduction gears to the screw. As such, this very large pipe (about 2-3 feet in diameter, depending on the vessel) passes from the ocean into the interior of the ship. The shaft seals keep the ocean out of the engine room.

For something like a main shaft to part, something SERIOUSLY BAD has to happen, and the event will kick off any number of nightmares downstream. If it parts outside the shaft seals, then the ship will go DIW, but flooding will most likely not be a serious problem. By parting INSIDE the seals, however....

The bottom line is that this kind of a casualty (which I've never heard of, incidentally) could be instantly catastrophic to a submarine which not only has to deal with flooding, but flooding while already submerged AND while at much higher ocean pressures than experienced at the surface.

Just reading Subvet's description made my testicles slam into the roof of my skull. The only thing more horrifying that I can imagine on a submarine is a fire.

Yikes!

Zaphod said:

HOLY CRAP!

Man, I bet your ******* took MONTHS to relax after that!

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My son still calls me a tight A**.

Very loud, very tense but we be Po'fessionals! Any candidate or Mid reading these words: We drill for a reason! That drill or training may save your life and the lives of your shipmates one day.

SubSquid said:

Any candidate or Mid reading these words: We drill for a reason!

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Yep.

Train as you fight. Fight as you train.

Just remember that the enemy isn't always some guy with a weapon.