Smoking blamed for fire on U.S. aircraft carrier; captain fired

Thursday 31st July, 03:38 PM JST

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Nippon5 at 05:37 PM JST - 31st July

Zen that wsnt directed at you just a general note on who should be responsible according to the chain of command and that they should of relieved the division officer for that space and the department head for that division as they are the ones who are suppose to be checking the spaces. As USNinJapan2 stated the ultimate responsibility for any thing on ship is the captains, and usually personnel are the xo`s responsibility, but the other officers in that chain should have the same responsibility..

Zen I worked in the Automotive paint industry and use to see guys spraying cars with a smoke in their mouths..scared the crud out of me everytime I saw it...

Beelzebub... they stopped smoking inside the ship (usually the smoking now the smoking is in a wind break) back in 93-94 if I remember well... It sucked for the smokers as the windbreak isnt a very nice place to stand. I think they would like to have no smoking but thats hard when you cant just leave the ship to go home and smoke.

And JT has once again mislabled a head line... You cant fire a Officer... he was just relieved of duty and transfered to another command or position....

The smoking lamp is now lite in all authorized places...... They might not hear that anymore!!!
Zen_Builder at 05:45 PM JST - 31st July

Nipon5.

One thing I learned in the service and it held true for the corporate world(best manager I worked under).

What happens in the Unit/Divison stays within, doesn't matter who mucked up(it is internal) the unit as a whole takes blame/praise.

The manager/CO/etc is the portal to the outside world and he takes responsibility for his assigned group. He covers them and they will cover him if needed.

Only a poor manager/etc will push blame on a lower rank to cover his own tracks.

Point being a good commander/manager is a buffer to the rest of the world, don't mean he is easy either.

He will be tough on guys not pulling their weight, yet will stand up for guys that did right or deserve extra recognition. In 30yrs I only met one such guy and he has my respect today.
MrMukatsuku at 05:57 PM JST - 31st July

Zen

Ultimately, the Manager / Officer is responsible for the department / troops beneath him.

This is a nuclear carrier we are talking about, and as such the captain is responsible for everything on board. Personnel caught smoking in that area should have been disciplined as a deterent to subsequent smokers.

He will be tough on guys not pulling their weight, yet will stand up for guys that did right or deserve extra recognition.

With the awareness of the crew, that the captain will be tough on smokers in the fire risk areas, maybe the fire could have been avoided.
Zen_Builder at 06:00 PM JST - 31st July

Not disagreeing there, that is what a good commander should do.
zurcronium at 06:07 PM JST - 31st July

The Navy, using our tax payer money to finx this ship, shold take the $70 million out of the salaries of the smokers on the ship. Then the nicotine addicted losers who smoke despite the danger it poses to themselves with lung cancer and to others in the case via a fire, would behave properly.

Why should we pay as taxpayers pay for the pathetic smokers damage?
MrMukatsuku at 06:13 PM JST - 31st July

Sounds more like a political dismissal. Clear the air with a new unblemished captain. One less thing for the Japanese carrier objectors to focus on.
Zen_Builder at 06:15 PM JST - 31st July

Nippon5 I got you, sorry for the confusion.
zurcronium at 06:21 PM JST - 31st July

Smokers should be held responsible for their destruction. In the end they die early so that is justice in a sense, but before then they inflict harm on others. That should be punished harshly.
JoeBigs at 07:18 PM JST - 31st July

When the crew screws up the Commander pays the price. But for the XO to get the ax also, wow this must have been a real screw up on their part.
Nippon5 at 07:35 PM JST - 31st July

Zurcronium... Just a stupid statement all around there.. Many smokers I know are very aware of the dangers and dont smoke in house or around non smokers, and almost all I know wouldnt smoke in a area not authorized, so no they shouldnt all pay for one idiots mistake.

I dont smoke and my Father died from smoking, but it was his choice to smoke not yours and he paid the price, this can be said about anything that is dangerous, like unprotected sex, speeding, skydiving, etc etc
Alphaape at 10:06 PM JST - 31st July

Having worked for PACFLT (ADM Willard, he was the Tomcat pilot in Top Gun that did all of Tom Cruise's flights) I suspect that this was more of a political statement. True the CO is responsible for what goes on in his ship, but in this case, a lot was at stake. It was a move to show the Japanese govt, that when the GW gets here, they will know that they take safety serious so as to help calm the fears about a nuke in Japan full time.
Masahiko Goto, a lawyer and co-representative of an anti-nuclear vessel civic group, said, ‘‘The fire indicates that the morale and quality of the crew has dropped to an alarming level.’’

‘‘The Japanese government should not accept the deployment because anxiety among citizens has not been dispelled,’’ he said.

Will probably do more harm than showing that the USN is sincere in presenting the GW's safety record.

Also, not being said is that the fire's delay has caused a "back lash" in terms of the Air Wing not getting back home, since they have to go all the way to San Diego and meet the ship. This impacts operational schedules and probably was just too much to not have someone's "head" roll for that one.
romulus3 at 10:34 PM JST - 31st July

the commander is not that hard done by. he will get a cushy job somewhere. this is just politics. not his fault someone had a puff. you can only do so much. he is not omnipotent and boys will be boys. whats sad is that the US has to go to these lengths to appease the ungrateful Japanese who would have been crushed by vengeful China by now if not for uncle sam.
imagawa at 11:43 PM JST - 31st July

‘‘The Japanese government should not accept the deployment because anxiety among citizens has not been dispelled,’’

That is the one important comment. It does not matter if the anxiety is based on a fact or a fear, it is there & in a democratic country it is the people that should come first. It is not what the government of Japan or America wants, if they cannot put people's minds at rest then shouldn't be stationing that carrier in Japan.

Romulus3

"Japanese who would have been crushed by vengeful China"

I think that the Japanese had already proved that when it came crushing they were really quite good at it. The US is stationed in Japan for it's own self interest, not to protect the Japanese people. Their being in Japan may have avoided conflicts (that didn't involve the US) but it wasn't for anybody elses sake. "Uncle Sam" is not that nice a guy, he takes what he wants & dumps what he doesn't want. Ask the philippines.

By the way, we only have the US navy's word for it that the fire was the result of someone smoking. given the circumstances who is to say this is really what happened. Smoke & mirrors.
Smythe at 06:09 AM JST - 1st August

One has to wonder if ex-Capt David Dykhoff will receive command of the newer aircraft carrier????? Sorry, but I could not resist it.
USNinJapan2 at 10:03 PM JST - 2nd August

Smythe

No, CAPT Dykhoff will never again command a ship. More importantly he will never be promoted to flag rank. To be selected to become a Rear Admiral an aviator like CAPT Dykhoff has to have successfully completed an XO tour of a carrier, CO of some other large ship, then a CO tour of a carrier. In otherwords, his career has stalled permanently.