Quote:
Originally Posted by CaptStash
And I hate to say it Bill, but you just made my point. You have described the experience that a young Third Mate (entry level deck officer) has. And that doesn't even account for the years of classroom training a Third Mate has as well. The good news is that part of the fallout from this year of disaster is that the USN intends to phase in proper commercial type navigation radars with full ARPA (Automatic Radar Plotting Aids) as well as ECDIS (Electronic Chart Display Systems) and have now authorized their vessels to activate their AIS (Automatic Identification Systems) when operating in heavily trafficked areas. All three will help, there's no doubt. But the first two of three take a fair amount of training to use appropriately. How well they are utilized is still very much an open question.
I still feel that the best answer to the problem is the simplest. Make deck officer (and engineering officer for that matter) an actual career track. Set it up so that you can continue to be promoted by gaining experience in the wheelhouse, and specializing in, as you called it, "ship driving."
CaptStash....
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That's not the military. You're a ship driver until you reach LCDR. There's no career path for ship driving, it's something that is expected as part of your career development and you progress up the ranks. Ship driving is a collateral duty in addition to running a division or department. What you're describing is a pro officer of the deck, it's just not practical in the military, it would be a dead end, career-wise.
It's not really proving any point because you can't compare the career path of a naval officer to a merchant marine officer.
As far as an analysis of the current situation and where the Navy is hopefully heading, Commander Salamander slays it as usual.
http://cdrsalamander.blogspot.com/20...ss-review.html