3 ms·

It's a pervasive and substantial problem in the US Navy atm. The various collisions, groundings, and sabotage in recent years indicates that. The root of it is

It's a pervasive and substantial problem in the US Navy atm. The various collisions, groundings, and sabotage in recent years indicates that. The root of it is the navy is being operated at a tempo that it has insufficient ships and sailors to properly maintain. But congress and leadership keep this mess going.

aaronbrethorst 5y ago
Congress authorized nearly $800 billion dollars for DOD in December. What’s an appropriate figure? https://www.vox.com/platform/amp/22840615/us-defense-spending-increase-afghanistan-withdrawal https://www.vox.com/platform/amp/22840615/us-defense-spendin...
- ethbr0 5y ago
  Depends on how many oceans we simultaneously want to be able to fight major wars on.
SkyMarshal 5y ago
I have no experience in the Navy, but I wonder if ships and subs couldn’t maintain three different operating tempos, something like Standard, Elevated, and the already existing General Quarters. Standard would be something like dividing the crew into two shifts, and the day into two 12hr blocks. One shift would be on-duty and the other off-duty during each 12hr block. For normal peacetime operations. 12hrs per day of rest time should be sufficient to prevent fatigue on long deployments. Elevated would divide the crew into three shifts, and the day into three 8hr blocks. 2/3rds of the crew would be on-duty during any 8hr block, and 1/3rd off duty. 16hrs on and 8hrs off for every crew member. For operating in hostile areas or similar. And of course there would be the already-existing third operating tempo, General Quarters, where the whole crew is awake and at battle stations, for imminent combat. Then design ships and subs around this concept, with sufficient automation for Standard to be viable with minimum possible crew, and extra redundant control systems to utilize the extra crew during Elevated and GQ (and to still function with battle damage and crew loss if necessary).
- ethbr0 5y ago
  The problem with ballistic missile subs (and to a lesser extent ships) is that the entire world, except home port, is a hostile operating area. You know how nuclear war starts? You get an ELF ping to come to comm depth to receive launch orders. Or you get a torpedo barreling towards you because the other side got their orders first and had an attack sub shadowing you.

aaronbrethorst 5y ago

Congress authorized nearly $800 billion dollars for DOD in December. What’s an appropriate figure? https://www.vox.com/platform/amp/22840615/us-defense-spending-increase-afghanistan-withdrawal https://www.vox.com/platform/amp/22840615/us-defense-spendin...

ethbr0 5y ago
Depends on how many oceans we simultaneously want to be able to fight major wars on.

SkyMarshal 5y ago

I have no experience in the Navy, but I wonder if ships and subs couldn’t maintain three different operating tempos, something like Standard, Elevated, and the already existing General Quarters. Standard would be something like dividing the crew into two shifts, and the day into two 12hr blocks. One shift would be on-duty and the other off-duty during each 12hr block. For normal peacetime operations. 12hrs per day of rest time should be sufficient to prevent fatigue on long deployments. Elevated would divide the crew into three shifts, and the day into three 8hr blocks. 2/3rds of the crew would be on-duty during any 8hr block, and 1/3rd off duty. 16hrs on and 8hrs off for every crew member. For operating in hostile areas or similar. And of course there would be the already-existing third operating tempo, General Quarters, where the whole crew is awake and at battle stations, for imminent combat. Then design ships and subs around this concept, with sufficient automation for Standard to be viable with minimum possible crew, and extra redundant control systems to utilize the extra crew during Elevated and GQ (and to still function with battle damage and crew loss if necessary).

ethbr0 5y ago
The problem with ballistic missile subs (and to a lesser extent ships) is that the entire world, except home port, is a hostile operating area. You know how nuclear war starts? You get an ELF ping to come to comm depth to receive launch orders. Or you get a torpedo barreling towards you because the other side got their orders first and had an attack sub shadowing you.