![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
U. S. Navy Four, Pirates Zip
Apr. 12th, 2009 07:03 pmAs you may have heard, the US Navy liberated Captain Richard Phillips of the Maersk Alabama today. During the rescue, three of the pirates caught bullets, and the fourth is getting a guided tour of the brig of the USS Boxer.
While driving back to Chicago, I listened to VADM Gortney's (5th Fleet) news conference. What struck me most was that the tactical decision as to whether or not to attack had been left with the "on-scene commander," in this case, CDR Frank Castellano, CO of the USS Bainbridge (DDG-96. I note that CDR Castellano graduated from the US Naval Academy in 1990, a year after I commissioned.
Leaving the decision to act with the on-scene commander is of course the way it should be. Sometimes there is a tendency to "send rudder orders by radio," or micromanage decisions from headquarters thousands of miles away. Thankfully, The Powers That Be resisted that temptation.
Although this was a good day, if you think this is the last pirate attack we'll see, I have a bridge for sale in Brooklyn.
While driving back to Chicago, I listened to VADM Gortney's (5th Fleet) news conference. What struck me most was that the tactical decision as to whether or not to attack had been left with the "on-scene commander," in this case, CDR Frank Castellano, CO of the USS Bainbridge (DDG-96. I note that CDR Castellano graduated from the US Naval Academy in 1990, a year after I commissioned.
Leaving the decision to act with the on-scene commander is of course the way it should be. Sometimes there is a tendency to "send rudder orders by radio," or micromanage decisions from headquarters thousands of miles away. Thankfully, The Powers That Be resisted that temptation.
Although this was a good day, if you think this is the last pirate attack we'll see, I have a bridge for sale in Brooklyn.
