When Commanding Officers are relieved of duty, one of the oft-cited reasons is loss of confidence in their ability to command. Many times, loss of confidence is cited when there is some underlying issue that requires the officer’s removal (i.e. personal or moral problems). However, it is currently being cited as the only reason for the recent relief of CDR Tony Hill from command of USS West Virginia.
The skipper of a ballistic-missile submarine was fired Monday shortly after returning home from his first deployment, according to a spokeswoman.
Cmdr. Charles “Tony” Hill, 45, was relieved “due to a loss of confidence” in his ability to command the Gold Crew of the boomer West Virginia. The Ohio-class submarine carries 24 Trident II nuclear missiles and is based at Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay, Ga.
The boat returned to Kings Bay in November.
“There were no specific incidents, just a number of indications related to command climate,” said Lt. Rebecca Rebarich, a spokeswoman for Submarine Group 10.
As always, there’s good discussion going on over at Bubblehead’s Place.
Electronic Navigation.
Yup. Commercial folks have been using it for YEARS. Even the surface fleet’s been in on it.
Last ones to the party is the submarine force, and for good reason. Like they said in “Hunt for Red October”, give us a map and a stopwatch and we’ll fly you through the Alps in a plane with no windows. But, as you’d expect, that better be a pretty damn good map.
It’s no surprise that submarines have been the last to relinquish paper navigation, but when your life depends on accurate data, you want to make sure that computer system is going to work … correctly … all the time. Test depth is not the place for a blue-screen of death as the Quartermaster reboots.
It’s been a few years in the making, but it seems that Submarine Force is working its way towards everyone getting certified Electronic Navigation, according to Navy Times
Benke, who took his current job in July, said there were about 10 crews certified at the time. Today, all eight blue and gold crews for guided missile subs are certified, as are 25 crews in the attack submarine fleet. Oklahoma City was the first to certify, in October 2006.
“By this time next year, it will be ones and twos,” Benke said. “You eventually have to make that transition, and it’s going to happen.”
Likewise, the Navy’s 14 Ohio-class ballistic missile submarines will begin certifying in 2009, with the process taking about four years to complete.
And as current crews make the shift and get certified, the Navy’s newest submarines will be going to sea essentially paperless.
It’s a heckuva long process, and really works the QM’s to get it done. But in the end, it IS a much better way to get things done and easier for the teams to prep charts. Anyone else have experience with electronic navigation?
Welcome to the fleet the newest VIRGINIA-Class SSN, 