Miss Bligh

[chris_gerrib]

Via various sources, I read that the US Navy has relieved CAPT Holly Graf of command of the USS Cowpens under a charge of "cruelty and maltreatment" of her crew. She is the first woman to be relieved of her command for cause in the US Navy. Considering that her sister, Robin, is an Admiral, as is her father-in-law, and she's a Naval Academy grad, I have to assume that she got more than a fair hearing on the matter.

Now, I've had some commanding officers of whom I'm not fond of, but none who tried to choke me. Despite what you may have seen in Hollywood movies, that sort of treatment is beyond the pale. Actually, I'm not sure that it was ever within the pale, as the original Mister Bligh discovered.

It is an unfortunate fact that, in any human institution, sometimes people rise to positions that they are clearly unfit for. Considering that the Cowpens was CAPT Graf's second command, one wonders how she didn't get found out sooner. At the end of the day, however, her Naval career is over.

Comments

[daveon.livejournal.com]

I'm not entirely sure the original Captain Bligh was as bad as the movies painted. He may have turned out to be a relatively inept manager but he was a hell of a sailor.

[chris-gerrib.livejournal.com]

Bligh was a good foul-weather sailor, but he didn't know how to back off.

From what I've read on Navy blogs, CAPT Graf was not a very good shiphandler.