Minutes. Well, good morning. This Committee Meets this morning to receive testimony on recent u. S. Navy collisions at sea, including u. S. S. Lake sham plain, uss fitzgerald, and uss john s. Mccain as well as the grounding of uss an teet tomb. We welcome or witness, the on able Richard Spencer secretary of the navy, admiral john richardson, chief of naval operations, and mr. John pendleton, director of defense for structure and readiness issues at the Government Accountability office. Id like to take a moment to recognize family members who lost loved ones in the fitzgerald and mccain collisions who are here with us today as our honored guests. From the fitzgerald, eric rooem, the wife of chief petty officer gary reem. Steven ritzco and show know douglas parents and brother of petty officer third class shingo douglas. Senior chief petty officer victor and carmen shah boy yn sa buyian, and theyre son luke. Parents and growth of petty officer first class carlosvictor sa buy on. Wayne an
Richard spencer and chief of Naval Operations John Richardson testified about the recent ship incidents that killed 17 sailors this sumner asia. The Senate Armed Services Committee Heard about accidents involving the uss john s. Mccain off the coast of singapore in august and the uss fitzgerald in the sea of japan in june. This hearing is two hours and 15 minutes. Well, good morning. This Committee Meets this morning to receive testimony on recent u. S. Navy collisions at sea, including u. S. S. Lake sham plain, uss fitzgerald, and uss john s. Mccain as well as the grounding of uss an teet tomb. We welcome or witness, the on able Richard Spencer secretary of the navy, admiral John Richardson, chief of Naval Operations, and mr. John pendleton, director of defense for structure and readiness issues at the Government Accountability office. Id like to take a moment to recognize family members who lost loved ones in the fitzgerald and mccain collisions who are here with us today as our hono
In the past few months, the Navy experienced the worst peacetime surface ship collisions in over 41 years. When the USS McCain and the USS Fitzgerald collided with commercial vessels, it claimed the lives of 17 sailors during routine “independent steaming” operations in the western Pacific Ocean.
1. “Resourcing a Ready Surface Force,” Navy Live, The Official Blog of the U.S. Navy, 6 May 2019, https://navylive.dodlive.mil/2019/05/06/resourcing-a-ready-surface-force/.
2. ADM Phillip M. Balisle, USN, “Final Report: Fleet Review Panel of Surface Force Readiness,” 26 February 2010.
3. CAPT John P. Cordle, USN (Ret.), and LCDR Toy Andrews, USN, “Back to Driving Ships, Part III,” U.S. Naval Institute
Proceedings 144, no. 7 (July 2018).
4. In one study, it was flight time that proved to be strongly correlated with naval flight students’ Naval Standard Score. Although this research did not discount the value of simulator training, its author suggests it “may be more effective and efficient in the intermediate phases of pilot learning than in the advanced phases.” Thus, shiphandling simulators in BDOC and the JOOD course appropriately deliver basic and intermediate mariner skills training; what the Navy lacks is complementary at-sea training to build intermedia