Sailors driving the McCain were not qualified to be on watch, Navy says

Seriously? WHISKEY TANGO FOXTROT

Having served on an Aegis Cruiser, I would not ever think I was qualified to handle an Arleigh Burke in the same way just walking on. Being a member of the Command Structure, I would certainly ask how we were training members from another ship to handle our systems and if they had become familiar with our systems and procedures, BEFORE being assigned to watchstanding duties.

This fiasco is clearly a leadership failure and not to be blamed on the watchstanders from other ships. Yes, PQS may have changed and I do not believe ALL watchstanders would have to requalify on ALL aspects of positions, however, I would want to be comfortable that they understood the fundamentals of their duties at least. Plus setting Sea and Anchor in time should have (assuming those watchstanders were fully qualified in reality) stopped this problem.

If there was, in fact, a near collision at sea just a few weeks prion, WTF happened to a complete internal review? We often, on many of my ships, sat down in the mess and wardroom, tearing our mistakes apart, looking for solutions. It seems as if that never happened here. Was OPTEMPO really that intense, or were we getting lazy?

Yup... pretty unreal... but still, with all the officers and senior enlisted on the bridge and in combat during the transit, it still should have been avoidable...