A Navy provide ship was run aground by a junior officer off the coast of Bahrain shortly after the ship’s grasp — or captain — left the bridge to eat dinner, an investigation revealed.
The USNS Alan Shepard had completed up a upkeep interval on July 15 and was on the best way to a port in Bahrain when she was directed to an space simply off shore to attend on a pilot. The grasp took the ship there after which went to eat dinner, leaving the ship within the palms of a way more junior third officer.
Lower than half-hour later, the Alan Shepard was grounded on a shoal.
US Navy photograph by Mass Communication Specialist third Class James Hong
The investigative abstract that was offered to Navy.com discovered that after the ship’s grasp — in addition to the navigator and the chief mate — left to eat, the ship’s third officer “turned distracted by a fishing vessel” and tried turning the Alan Shepard to keep away from it.
Nevertheless, the officer, who was not recognized within the abstract, “was not cognizant of the ship’s place in relation to the shoals and shallow water whereas he was maneuvering the vessel.”
It would not be till the subsequent day when, helped by rising tide and tugs, the ship can be free of the sand.
The investigation famous that the Alan Shepard’s standing orders dictate “the grasp can be on the bridge” when the ship is in shallow water. It cited the failure of the ship’s prime officers to observe their very own guidelines as one of many components that led to the incident.
US Navy photograph by Mass Communication Specialist third Class Taylor Crenshaw
The Alan Shepard was launched in 2006 and has house for a crew of greater than 120, all of whom are usually civilian mariners licensed by the US Coast Guard. The ship is used to move cargo and provides for Navy vessels at sea.
The investigative abstract offered by the Navy made no point out of any disciplinary measures taken within the wake of the incident, and Stars and Stripes, which was the primary to report on the investigation’s outcomes, discovered that the grasp in control of the ship that day nonetheless holds a legitimate service provider mariner credential.
The abstract stated {that a} later diver inspection and analysis discovered that the ship suffered solely minor scratches to the paint on its hull and no different harm.
US Navy photograph by Mass Communication Specialist third Class Andrew Langholf
In distinction, the Navy usually relieves warship commanders of their command for even minor grounding incidents.
Simply weeks after the Alan Shepard incident, the Navy fired the skipper of the USS Howard, Cmdr. Kenji Igawa, after the ship suffered a “comfortable grounding” on August 10 because it was pulling into Bali, Indonesia, for a port go to. The ship was capable of free itself.
The Alan Shepard is at present working within the Center East, in response to public ship trackers, and has been supporting the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower and the remainder of that strike group.
