Fire, Fire, Fire...

Wishful said:
The article is a year old but I'm sure the "challenges" mentioned are still somewhat in play today. As an aside, I understand it takes an extra year to learn how to fly one so I would imagine pilot shortages in the mix too.

https://www.militarytimes.com/news/...-corps-mv-22-ospreys-are-not-mission-capable/
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My "almost daughter" who is now a KC-130J pilot was thinking of going to the Osprey. I did a lot of research because I'd heard "whispers." I told her everything I'd learned and it matched what she'd heard. She chose the '130J.

I ultimately had the chance to meet, at my local MOAA meeting, BGen Don Harvel, USAF, Ret. Gen Harvel was the Accident Investigation Board (AIB) President for an Osprey crash in Afghanistan in 2010. The findings of his board ended his career. I subsequently interviewed him for a doctoral research study and he told me the story.

His book on the topic was recently published.

It's an interesting airplane...lots of gotcha's there but if all works well a very capable platform.

Steve
 
As the parent of a newly minted ensign., I am wondering about those Class of 2020 mids who ship-selected BHR during Ship Selection Night. Do they have to pick a new ship, do they stay with the BHR and help rebuild, do they get temporarily reassigned to another San Diego based ship, what happens when they finish BDOC?
 
Sandydesert said:
As the parent of a newly minted ensign., I am wondering about those Class of 2020 mids who ship-selected BHR during Ship Selection Night. Do they have to pick a new ship, do they stay with the BHR and help rebuild, do they get temporarily reassigned to another San Diego based ship, what happens when they finish BDOC?
Click to expand...
The goal for them is to keep them moving on their path toward SWO qualification and not get stalled so much they fall behind peers. That can’t happen on BHR now or for the foreseeable future, because she won’t be underway. For example, one might get TEMDU’ed (temporary duty) to another ship in San Diego one of whose ensigns is out with mono for 2 months and can’t deploy. The manpower people will be working this for both officer and enlisted crew. I expect the assigned crew will shrink quickly. Once investigations are complete, and decisions made, it might be a quick move to decomm or some other path.
 
Sandydesert said:
As the parent of a newly minted ensign., I am wondering about those Class of 2020 mids who ship-selected BHR during Ship Selection Night. Do they have to pick a new ship, do they stay with the BHR and help rebuild, do they get temporarily reassigned to another San Diego based ship, what happens when they finish BDOC?
Click to expand...
While not as "Front Page" as BHR, things like this have happened in the past and the Navy has dealt with this
all before.

Consider this that I experienced:

Coming out of Service Selection night, I was headed to a somewhat middle-aged to old destroyer in Norfolk after
SWOS Basic (forerunner to BDOC). About a month into the four month course, the Navy announced that the ship I
was headed for which was in overhaul was going to be "decrewed" for the overhaul. SWOS officials told us that
those of us who were headed to her would be reassigned. I contacted the assignment people, updated my preferences
and approx 6 weeks later was ordered as part of the commissioning crew of a brand new Cruiser. There were probably
20 or so Ensigns at SWOS school with me whose orders were changing for one reason or another so this was not
a rare occurrence at that time
 
Good update from U. S. Naval Institute.
news.usni.org

3rd Fleet to Lead USS Bonhomme Richard Fire Command Investigation - USNI News

U.S. Pacific Fleet commander Adm. John Aquilino has appointed the head of San Diego, Calif.-based 3rd Fleet to lead the official command investigation into the July 12 fire aboard USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD-6). Vice Adm. Scott Conn, a veteran pilot who took command of the San Diego-based fleet...
news.usni.org news.usni.org
 
Sailor being questioned in the BHR fire.

www.nbcsandiego.com

Arson Suspected Cause of USS Bonhomme Richard Fire, Source Says

Investigators looking into the cause of the July 12 fire on board USS Bonhomme Richard, while the ship was in San Diego Bay undergoing repair, suspect the fire may have been caused by arson and have identified a U.S. Navy sailor as a potential suspect, a Defense Department source with direct...
www.nbcsandiego.com www.nbcsandiego.com
 
Sorry if this is a little off-topic, but even as an Army officer I remember the example of US Navy damage control sometimes used as an example of proper training. The USS Forrestal was discussed several times during "safety stand-downs". As a new LT I was in one unit that had a CW4 pilot who had been a seaman on the Forrestal during the accident and gave a first hand account.
If I remember correctly, the US Navy went to a system of "everyone is damage control" much like the Marines "everyone is an infantryman", while the IJN relied on a few well-trained damage control specialists.

 
now being reported that it may have been a case of arson by a crew member. Fire and/or water damage reported to 11 of 13 decks, island gutted and flight deck warped; repairs likely to exceed a billion dollars.
 
looks like it's totaled...

would cost $2.5-3 Billion over 5-7 years to fix her

www.military.com

Military Daily News

Daily updates of everything that you need know about what is going on in the military community and abroad including military gear and equipment, breaking news, international news and more.
www.military.com www.military.com
 
Whatever we "save" will help to cover the cost-overruns on the Ford and America class carriers. Those things are just big holes in the water, in which to dump money.

Sorry to the SWOs here, but that's how I feel. ;)
 
I agree with you that big carriers are dinosaurs. Too vulnerable. “Too big to fail.” We need to stop fighting “the last war.” We need to crank out a ton of Arleigh Burkes and more numerous, smaller flattops, like America Class (I think 11 more are planned; let’s make that 22.). Not advocating cutting the budget, just spending it smarter. And, the big carriers already built or planned can be made to last MANY more years. Just stop building more of them!!
 
NJROTC-CC said:
I agree with you that big carriers are dinosaurs. Too vulnerable. “Too big to fail.” We need to stop fighting “the last war.” We need to crank out a ton of Arleigh Burkes and more numerous, smaller flattops, like America Class (I think 11 more are planned; let’s make that 22.). Not advocating cutting the budget, just spending it smarter. And, the big carriers already built or planned can be made to last MANY more years. Just stop building more of them!!
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I'm certainly not a naval strategist, but from what I can understand there is a certain economy of scale in larger carriers. They are able to support simultaneous offensive and defensive operations that ships with smaller air wings just cannot do.
Some of the frigate designs and "distributed lethality" ideas are quite interesting, for surface combatants. (I kind of like the idea of a reinforced merchant hull with a boatload of missiles as an "arsenal ship" idea. (although communications for targeting and defense are obviously issues)
 
You know...those of you that know me know that I'm a career AF pilot. However many don't know that I spent about a year on a CVN over a four-day period. At least it felt that long...I've never been SO lost in my life.

I thought...this is crazy; this is absolutely uncontrolled, barely managed chaos. That's just how it felt to an outsider like me.

Except for one time.

That was when, and it's been about 30 years so I'll forget the proper terms, but it came over the "1MC" "Exercise Exercise, FIRE ON THE HANGER DECK, FIRE ON THE HANGER DECK..."

At that moment, this anthill turned into a well-oiled machine of literally thousands of sailors descending upon the hanger deck, outfitted in fire fighting equipment...it was orchestrated, disciplined, it shocked the heck outta this AF guy.

That being said...to see that this ship was "saved" even with this...speaks volumes to the firefighting abilities of the navy and others.

Steve
 
flieger83 said:
That was when, and it's been about 30 years so I'll forget the proper terms, but it came over the "1MC" "Exercise Exercise, FIRE ON THE HANGER DECK, FIRE ON THE HANGER DECK..."
Click to expand...
The terms used would probably be something like:
"This is a Drill, This is s Drill
FIRE FIRE, Class Bravo Fire on the Hanger Deck
Provide from Repair One"

And then on to "DING DING DING DING General Quarters General Quarters. . ." And so on
 
Fire-fighting, drill or real, when done at sea, takes on an entirely order of urgency when you are fighting for your ride home thousands of miles from land.
 
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