The US Navy, invented by geniuses to be run by morons

[lord of the mark]

Well thats what a character in Wouks "A Caine Mutiny" (which im reading) says. Referring to the Navys attempts to routinize and standardize everything, allegedly so dregs can do it.

My questions - was this true of the pre-1941 USN, as Wouk implies? Has it changed? When and how?

note = i post this here rather than OT, in part to avoid a flamewar.

[Lonestar]

Re: The US Navy, invented by geniuses to be run by morons

Originally posted by lord of the mark
Well thats what a character in Wouks "A Caine Mutiny" (which im reading) says. Referring to the Navys attempts to routinize and standardize everything, allegedly so dregs can do it.

My questions - was this true of the pre-1941 USN, as Wouk implies? Has it changed? When and how?

note = i post this here rather than OT, in part to avoid a flamewar.

Let me put it this way. Reading the Caine Mutiny on a 21st century Naval Warship on deployment, and having lots of shipmates who are not very...literary read it, and everyone agrees that the Navy "culture" has not been change signifigantly...what do you think?

[Dis]

I'd say that about sums it up.

If I recall we had those cards. ****, I can't remember the name of them. PMRC cards? Or were they PMC cards? Which was redundant since the c stood for card, but we called them that anyways. Back to my point. We had those cards detailing how to do the simplest of maintenance tasks. Even worse, if you were being observed doing this maintenance, you were supposed to be reading line by line the procedure. Even if it was something as simple as cleaning the filters on an air handler unit. This is akin to having a step by step procedure for checking the oil in your car.

[Zkribbler]

Invented by geniuses???

The original officer corp was chosen according to who had the best connections in the Continental Congress.

John Paul Jones sat on the wharf while people with no sea experience were given assignments ahead of him.
When he proclaimed "Give me a fast ship, for I intend to go in harm's way," they stuck him with the tottering old Bonhomme Richard. Our first naval genius, and he spent most of his time trying to get a ship.

[Cort Haus]

Does the name 'Old Yellowstain' mean anything to you?

[pchang]

Originally posted by Zkribbler
Invented by geniuses???

The original officer corp was chosen according to who had the best connections in the Continental Congress.

John Paul Jones sat on the wharf while people with no sea experience were given assignments ahead of him.
When he proclaimed "Give me a fast ship, for I intend to go in harm's way," they stuck him with the tottering old Bonhomme Richard. Our first naval genius, and he spent most of his time trying to get a ship.

That part has at least improved.

[Zkribbler]

Originally posted by Cort Haus
Does the name 'Old Yellowstain' mean anything to you?

I don't know anything about the name "Old Yellowstain' and I don't know anything about any messboys eating any strawberries. --I would have used mathematical logic to prove there was another key, except for the disloyalty of my officers.

[Zkribbler fidgets nervously while playing with his balls - click, click, click]

[Patroklos]

If I recall we had those cards. ****, I can't remember the name of them. PMRC cards? Or were they PMC cards?

They are MRC cards, from 3M spot checks and a khaki has to watch a certain number every week. and yes I had to watch a 3rd class clean the filter on some gadget in radio the other day that consisted of;

1. Deenergize circuit.

2. Remove filter.

3. Clean filter with brush and cleaning solution (and thanks to OSHA that solution is HAZMAT, so he had t read a page of precautions and disposal info).

4. Replace filter.

5. Energize circuit.

Very mundade, definetly a judicious use of my time, training, and experiance, but what Dis forgets to mention is that there are MRCs for everything, from the bulbs in battle lanterns to compete diagnostic checks of the SLQ-32 interface, which is the one I did befor that.

I am not exactly sure where in the force structure you were Dis, but it is an unfortunate fact that such tasks need to be sailor proofed. The amout of asshatery that young sailors engage in never ceases to amaze me. I am sure young workers are like that everywhere, but if the fan coil in the copier at your local investment firm goes out from lack of filter cleaning who cares, if the pump in your AEGIS cooling water system goes down because a filter wasn't clean it is a much bigger deal.