6 and 2 rotating schedule sucked (that’s the 8 day one I expect). I have no idea how the Navy survives 2-2-2 and 80s onshore, much less what they might try on the ships.

I clearly remember being severely fatiqued as a JO. It was a real problem. I believe that research has proven beyond the shadow of a doubt that rotating watches daily is an invitation to disaster. Anecdotally, I believe this was proven at least thirty years ago. I am convinced that many of our Service’s accidents and incidents are the result of fatiqued crews. The retort that “we’ve always done it that way and it works just fine” doesn’t cut it.

Consequently, four of the ships in which I served used fixed rotations. Crews stood the same four hour watches port to port. The 16-20 watches weren’t dogged, just relieved for chow. 1MC announcements were minimized or not used at all except in emergencies. Watches rolled ahead during port visits. I’ve used this system in CONUS, the Med and WESTPAC; it seemed to work better than any other watch rotation I’ve experienced.

With respect to the article, the reason surface ships hold morning quarters is, in part, to ensure no one fell over the side during the night as well as to ensure all hands “get the word”. That said, perhaps there is a better, more efficient way to ensure all hands are aboard to get the word.

If you go to bosun.nps.edu and search for “sleep study” you can read for hours academic studies that will confirm what you perceived.

The problem is the inertia of the leadership. Change like this needs a champion (wearing stars) to get it done.

On submarines, watches are six hours long with three underway watch sections. After watch, if one has work to do, they do it until it’s done or until the next watch. If not, they can go to the rack right away. This works out pretty well, all things considered (maintenance load, training and drills, etc.). I’ve been a rider on a surface ship that did the traditional four hour watch rotation with working hours underway and that sucked. The fixed six hour watches mentioned in the post above would be far better as long as surface commands went with the submarine concept of work or sleep instead of working hours. Surface ships have more personnel than submarines, so they could get away with four watch sections instead of three.

Another factor is Circadian cycle. People are bio-engineered by evolution to be daylight animals. I’ve found that night shift is more easily accomodated by only a small fraction of people, while the rest (including myself) have to utilize “tricks” like making sure your bedroom is totally dark, turning a radio to talk radio and turning it down very low to a murmur (to drown out the much louder noise outside during daylight hours) and medication to help you sleep (like Benydryl or a mild alcoholic beverage). Also, once your eyes have seen daylight it’s very hard to get to sleep. I tried to always make sure I was out before the sun came up; if I didn’t, it was very hard to sleep.

Sailors can go to sleep at the drop of a hat, but only because they are exhausted. I’ve seen them sleep in the noisiest environments and the weirdest locations.

In the long run, sleep deprivation can and will kill you in the environment aboard ship. Machinery, steep ladders, slippery catwalks, the list goes on. Some sort of trade off should be arrainged before the problem becomes lethal. Personally, whenever I had to work 16 hours+ I never worked the next day. Lots of jobs, just one me.

Jeff, good on you for getting your views out here. It’s great that you are already thinking about these things, and that you are comfortable sharing your views in a professional setting. Good luck to you as you go out to the fleet!

hence the value in our gyms and work out routines at sea

The problem there is, trying to find the time…

The crew can’t relax much, even with the ship tied up.

Gotta wonder if the USS Blue missed detecting the Japanese that fateful night in August ’42 because there was no one onboard not fatigued. After all, during the intense days prior, every evolution was an All Hands affair…

Midn Withington – thanks very much for posting on this issue. The topic is truly non-trivial and is as much an issue today as it ever has been since humans started taking ships to sea overnight.
Reading your post brought to mind two books I recently read – Japanese Destroyer Captain and the memoirs of a RN destroyer CO during WW2.
A common element in both books was the profound effect of fatigue during sustained combat operations, in one case almost 8 months of combat in the Solomons without relief and, in the other, prolonged periods of combat during North Atlantic convoys (the Murmansk run) and in the Mediterranean in 1943.
Both COs were brutally honest about what they did right and what they did wrong, and what they did wrong almost always came in a period of prolonged sleep deprivation.
[To get a visual of this issue, watch the movie "The Cruel Sea"]
Now, the issue you raised is a related one – the impact of “excessive” fatigue during routine operations, the type of sustained underway optempo we (USN) are experiencing today.
Part of the answer lies with the ability of every ship’s command team to organize themselves for success to the maximum extent their resources (people, equipment, etc) and training allow. In my view, no permission is required to task-organize onboard ship in order to accomplish the assigned mission. COs get to establish priorities and act accordingly (and that is tone of the truly great thing about being a CO!)
Part of the answer also lies with higher echelons’ responsibility to 1) recognize the importance of the issue, 2) to be aware that every ship is unique (no two crews are the same) and thus different ships will require different solutions to accomplish the same mission set over an extended u/w period and 3) to be ready with supportive intervention whenever required.
Culturally, this issue is not one we deal with very easily; we grow up professionally treasuring our “ability” to go hard for prolonged periods without adequate rest and without due regard for the consequences on performance and safety.
Thanks for putting a fresh set of eyes on target. All the best, JCHjr

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaay back in the early 90s, on my destroyer (as a newly reported bright eyed Ensign, albeit with some previous sea time in merchants), I asked the SWO:”WEPS, this constant watch rotation is really bad, you can never adjust you body to it…why don’t we stand watches like in the Merchant Marines (the Mates & Engineers NEVER shift watches)?”

WEPS: “Then no one would ever see all the evolutions necessary for qualification.”

Me:”Then how about we rotate the watches only every two months? Over a 6 month deployment, everyone would get to participate in roughly all the evolutions?”

WEPS: “Go away”.

I have never seen a satisfactory anwer to this. Concur with CAPT Leenhouts post.

MIDN Withington – great start! This topic comes up with increasing frequency. My read file has an article from 1998 on “The Need for Sleep”. This is a lesson we will insist on learning over and over – for lots of reasons. Some of them brougt out by the commenters to your post.

First of all – Rotating watches are much more a product of numerous other issues than “senior officer laziness”.

Not everyone wants to stand the 00-04, 22-02, 04-08, or even 12-17…or whatever watch rotation you may come up with on a regular basis.

Abnormal evolutions, underway replenishments, general quarters drills, and even meetings defeat a fixed rotation more often than not. Having stood fixed watches in CIC those, evolutions play havoc with sleep cycles and careful scheduling can mitigate, but not remove, that havoc.

But…what has a larger impact on fatigue than the rotating watches are inefficiency on the part of leadership AND watchstanders.

Does the officer who stood the midwatch really need to be at Officer’s Call? Or can the non-watchstanding CPO or 1st Class cover that morning?

What about the Daily Ops Brief? Does it need to be after dinner? Does it need to be 2 hours long? Does everyone need to be there?

Do you really need to finish that movie or up your “Guitar Hero” score before taking the “Ten to Two”? Or is a half hour or hour nap a better option?

In command I placed an important emphasis on sleep – for myself and the crew. And in many cases it paid off. And, there were those who took advantage of it by skipping meetings they were available for, awake for, and needed at…but chose to use rest as the excuse not to attend. And…I am certain that despite my emphasis on getting rested, that there are those who thought my words hollow and insincere – and chose to work themselves and their people inefficiently and dangerously. Even when later corrected.

This is a HUGE cultural issue…and a Flag level advocate will not make an iota of difference. This is an issue won or lost at the E5, E6, E7, O1, O2, and O3 level…with advice and support from above…but won or lost at that level.

willful not willfull,and I hope all of our comments lead to a successful not successfull outcome in regards to this serious issue raised by a WEST POINT cadet.