The officers are up to date on their acceptance of transgenders training.
Nearly 84 percent of Navy first-tour junior deck officers randomly tested were not competent to drive their ships without raising concerns, particularly when “immediate action” was required “to avoid collision,” according to findings the Navy released Wednesday.
Instead, many of the 164 junior officers who were qualified to be officer of the deck were not able to demonstrate “critical thinking and decision-making skills” when facing dangerous situations, the Navy review of seamanship and ship-handling skills found.
The results of the evaluations, conducted in the wake of two deadly Pacific Fleet ship collisions last year, were “sobering,” said Vice Adm. Richard Brown, the head of Naval Surface Force Pacific, who ordered the review.
Only 27 of the officers performed without raising any concerns. The vast majority – 108 officers — completed with some concerns, while 29 had significant concerns, Brown wrote in a memo addressed to commodores and commanding officers. The Navy shared the memo after Defense News reported on it.
The findings highlighted severe weaknesses in the training of young officers who come onto ships for the first time and are expected to be able to drive the vessel. They also underscored some of the weaknesses that played out last year in the back-to-back collisions involving the USS Fitzgerald and the USS John S. McCain that left 17 sailors dead.
Brown said the results were not surprising. In an interview with Stars and Stripes, he said that many of the junior officers in the competency checks were new to their first ships. The review was ordered to help the Navy identify weaknesses as it creates a new course for junior officers of the deck, to be introduced next year. It will be included in officer of the deck training at two new centers – in San Diego and in Norfolk, Va. – to open in 2020 and 2021 at a cost of $68 million. The centers will also offer hands-on scenario training on deck and in the Combat Information Center, where officers monitor electronic and radar equipment and man weapons.