GW CO & XO relieved

[Harrier Dude]

Of course, they used to smoke inside the skin of the ship....long ago. When I was on the Kitty Hawk, circa 1991, they allowed smoking in the berthing areas...and all my clothing smelled like smoke. :yuck_125:

I can't tell you when they changed the rules, but it has been a while. On my 2000 Lincoln cruise, you had to use the designated smoking areas which were sponsons only. I'm guessing the rules changed in the mid to late 90's. I'm sure A-4's or Spike can speak to smoking in the Ready rooms long ago.....

-ea6bflyr

On the Bataan the nighttime smoking area was the long ramp from the hangar deck up to the flight deck. It was as much "inside the skin of the ship" as the hangar deck was with the doors closed. Not sure if that counts.

BTW, it was pretty disgusting. No need to bring your own smokes. Just stand there and breathe. It always smelled like ass.

As to the Zuni question, I thought that it was caused by parking a huffer underneath the pod, causing them to cook off. The pins/pigtails were immaterial. Was that a different fire? Oriskany?? Which one was caused by the flare locker?

If only there was a place where we could read the SIR on that (and other mishaps) so that we could avoid mindless speculation as to the cause of the mishap. We might even prevent it from happenning again.

Too bad we can't because of priveledge.

 

[Scoob]

Too bad we can't because of priveledge.

Too often the concept of "privilege" gets manipulated into a "knowledge is power" game. Either that, or it is misunderstood/misinterpreted and a fail-safe stance is employed allowing the potential value gained to be lost.

This site regularly engages itself in it. Privilege is easily maintained through sanitation.


...but, I hear ya.

 

[koolaiddrinker]

In my two year disassociated tour on another carrier, we caught sailors twice (once when it started a fire) smoking in an out of the way space and tossing the butts in the ventilation. Yes it is stupid, but I'm not kidding. I've seen it myself, especially during refueling at sea (when smoking sponsons are secured) or on watch when they can not leave their posts.

The scuttlebutt about the reliefs I heard is that during the investigations, they found many programs not up to snuff (like 3M, HAZMAT, required annual inspections not done). These programs are the responsibility of the CO but run by the XO for him.

 

[HooverPilot]

The reason the CO went down is as much the "Burden of Command" as anything else. We hold our CO's to the highest standard of any in the service, and for good reasons. I think he was let down by one of his Dept Heads/Div-O's/Chiefs.

As for the XO, it had to be something like koolaiddrinker mentioned, etc. I was there when the fire went down and I have my own theories of why he was relieved, but that's not for the open forum.

These were professional Officers that did the best job of leading that they could. I'm sure that there is something on every ship that could bring down the leadership with the right combination of circumstances. The cheese just lined up on the GW.

 

[Flash]

These were professional Officers that did the best job of leading that they could. I'm sure that there is something on every ship that could bring down the leadership with the right combination of circumstances. The cheese just lined up on the GW.

An excellent observation. A lot of your career is timing, for good or bad.

 

[picklesuit]

Hmmm, hadn't heard that before. Still, quite a bit different though. More a change in procedure on a particular weapon system, wrong though it may be, and not a gross violation of a common sense Navy-wide safety standard.

I agree Flash, but I think in todays climate they would have been hosed. Too many damn bean-counters/finger-pointers in todays Navy.

 

[jus2mch]

These were professional Officers that did the best job of leading that they could. I'm sure that there is something on every ship that could bring down the leadership with the right combination of circumstances. The cheese just lined up on the GW.[/QUOTE]

A parts issue did that to a Captain in Lemoore in 2000. Wasn't the Navy tossing around the idea of smoke free ships a few years ago?

 

[Flash]

I agree Flash, but I think in todays climate they would have been hosed. Too many damn bean-counters/finger-pointers in todays Navy.

Maybe not. If one Senator had not refused to approve the entire promotion list for O-6 if his name was on it, CDR Kirk Lippold, the CO of the USS Cole when it was bombed, would be an O-6 today. ADM Clark submitted his name every year for promotion when he was CNO.

 

[Mumbles]

^which Senator, Flash?

 

[BigIron]

...Wasn't the Navy tossing around the idea of smoke free ships a few years ago?

I do believe mutiny would follow soon after this.

 

[picklesuit]

I do believe mutiny would follow soon after this.

well, the Air Force (in all their wisdom) outlawed smoking while in their TRACOM as a student. At Vance, there was a huge smokepit outside the academic building, and a nice one next to the squadron for the maintainers. Needless to say, after 12 hours of "formal release" I needed a fucking smoke. The first 2 months I went to my truck and smoked there, after that I just joined the maintainers and noone gave me much shit. But they had it in the stoopid rules that we "weren't to smoke while in the training command"

Most guys I saw dipped, but they got yelled at by the class commanders if they weren't pretty sneaky.

Freakin' Air Force, what do they know?

 

[Flash]

^which Senator, Flash?

Senator Warner from Virginia. This is straight from CDR Lippold himself.

Most guys I saw dipped, but they got yelled at by the class commanders if they weren't pretty sneaky.

Freakin' Air Force, what do they know?

If you are dipping in uniform, you are wrong. It looks unprofessional and is just.....nasty.

 

[jus2mch]

If you are dipping in uniform, you are wrong. It looks unprofessional and is just.....nasty.

Especially when it ends up in the drinking fountain, or you end up with the callsign Spitz.:yuck_125:

 

[Mumbles]

Ah Senator Foghorn Leghorn..... or Mr Elizabeth Taylor?

 

[Beans]

I sure saw a lot of IPs and students in my primary squadron dipping... I was kind of surprised, because I assumed folks would take better care of themselves.