Building a solid foundation is key; a shipyard does not affix a pilothouse without a solid keel and all supporting framework in place first. By reviewing the career development of surface warfare junior officers in today’s Navy, great strides have been made in the training pipeline after the comprehensive review following the USS Fitzgerald (DDG-62) and USS John S. McCain (DDG-56) mishaps in 2017. Updates to the Basic Division Officer Course (BDOC) and implementing the Junior Officer of the Deck course (JOOD) have helped junior officers gain knowledge before reporting to their first ship. Unfortunately, there remains work to be done by reinforcing the basics of ship handling.
I believe the Basic Ship Handling (BSH) course should be used to teach junior officers to be successful ship handlers before they are expected to be conning officers. During the months following BDOC and the JOOD course, sending ensigns to BSH offered at local Navigation, Seamanship, and Ship-Handling Training (NSST) simulator sites for 40 hours of structured instruction would improve the confidence and knowledge needed to be a conning officer. This would allow “conn by negation” and not just parroting a commanding officer (CO) or officer of the deck (OOD).
Joint Publication 3-32 of 8 June 2018 states:
Command by negation acknowledges that, because of the often distributed and dispersed nature of maritime warfare, it is necessary to preplan the actions of a force to an assessed threat and delegate some warfare functions to subordinate commanders. Once such functions are delegated, the subordinate commander is to take the required action without delay, always keeping the OTC informed of the situation.
For a conning officer, this can be summarized as ship handling is a complex task and requires a conning officer to brief and preplan an evolution while acting early and often to meet the objective while keeping the CO and OOD informed of the situation. During BSH, young officers will be exposed to ship-specific and homeport-specific characteristics (i.e., common visual aids, weather patterns, and how to work with harbor pilots) that the NSST instructors and guest lectures could provide. Starting with a basic review on forces on the ship and the split-ship concept working up to complex tactical maneuvering while covering pier work, harbor familiarization, and man-overboard procedures.
With a model of a lecture followed by supervised execution in the simulator, knowledge and experiences can be gained quickly, allowing young officers to place the right tools in their tool bags. Partnering with a local harbor pilot to review the interaction between a conning officer and pilot, discussing common visual aids, visual turn bearing, or navigation aids give everyone the same frame of reference. Inviting a mobility-navigation/mobility-seamanship boatswain’s mate chief or rescue swimmer assessor from the Afloat Training Group will allow new ensigns to gain real experience on what the swimmer and deck force is doing as the ship comes about for mobility recovery. It also will allow new ensigns to understand how it is important to not place the ship in a large heal or dangerous configuration that could lead to additional injuries or more personnel in the water. Also inviting a replenishment vessel’s master to discuss the underway replenishment from his or her point of view will allow for safer operations alongside, even allowing for practicing of Corpen November maneuvers.
The first chapter of Captain James A. Barber Jr.’s Naval Shiphandler’s Guide, a well-known and used guide on Naval ship handling, speaks to the uses and importance of NSST training facilities and training. Training is mentioned before any discussion on forces on a ship and how to control a ship. Getting back to basics will not only improve the ship handling on one ship, but also will strengthen the collective ship-handling knowledge throughout the entire Navy.
