Putting your trust in crew members sometimes can yield surprising results

Since 11-28-02

Special to Navy Times
Issue Date: November 25, 2002

Reminds me of active duty days. A must read !!

Putting your trust in crew members sometimes can yield surprising results

The writer, a commander with 27 years in the Navy, is serving on active duty. I was the captain of a Navy rescue-and-salvage deep-sea diving ship, forward deployed in Sasebo, Japan, with a crew of 130 men and one woman. Five months into my command tour, we had an operational propulsion plant examination scheduled in Yokosuka.

The ship made the two-day transit from Sasebo to Yokosuka with Fleet Training Group observers embarked.  FTG conducted cold and hot checks prior to the ship being under way; we drilled daily while at sea, showed them several Main Space Fire Drills and allowed them to review our administrative programs and conduct level-of-knowledge tests and oral boards en route.

The night prior to arriving in Yokosuka, the senior FTG observer and his team gave the traditional post-observation debriefing to my wardroom and me. The senior observer said his team did not feel my ship was properly prepared to conduct the OPPE as scheduled, and recommended I request the exam be postponed. I looked the senior FTG observer directly in the eyes, telling him the ship would not consider delaying the OPPE, and that we would prove him and every member of his team wrong.

No sooner were we moored and our lines doubled up, than I had a visit from the senior engineer officer from FTG Yokosuka on the quarterdeck. In my cabin, the FTG engineer, who happened to be senior to me, tried in earnest to convince me to delay the OPPE.

I advised him, just as I had his observation team the night before, that delaying the exam was not an acceptable course of action. Needless to say, we needed some work in certain areas, but none of our deficiencies warranted delaying the exam and impacting the operational schedule. I called my immediate senior in command, who happened to be a one-star group commander admiral based in Singapore, 2,500 miles away.

He asked my opinion and what my course-of-action plan was. After outlining my plan and assuring the admiral that my ship could undergo the exam on time, he agreed to allow me to proceed.

All seagoing surface-warfare sailors know what happens when you question the FTG organization. I had assured an admiral that, if allowed to proceed, I could pass the OPPE. The consequences of failure could have ended my career.

I factored all of this in and still came up with the thought that my ship could do well. I was able to do this because of the trust and confidence I had developed during the five months in command. My chief engineer was confident, and so was I. We worked hard for a week prior to the exam and accepted help from the FTG staff to get even better.

The ship took the OPPE on time and did above average across the board. I never will forget the senior propulsion examination board captain approaching me on the bridge the night after a full day of drills and a main-space fire drill. Barring anything major happening with the engineering plant overnight, the captain said, the ship had the exam in the bag.

Ironically, the same FTG team members who rode us up to Yokosuka embarked for the OPPE and were amazed at what they observed. I believed in my crew, and I trusted what they told me. My five-month observations held true.

My immediate senior in command developed confidence strong enough in me to give me a green light to take the OPPE, even when seasoned FTG staff observers said we were not ready.

Was I lucky, or was my intuition right?

I got a second chance to question outside observers when the ship completed a complex engineering overhaul in Sasebo, in which it received new main propulsion diesel engines.

A light-off examination by the same team that conducted the OPPE 18 months earlier was required because my plant had been down for more than four months. FTG made the same negative recommendation, but we took the light-off exam on time, receiving good grades across the board.

Trust your subordinates.

They may surprise you in a positive way.
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Submitted,
YNCS Don Harribine, USN(Ret)
NCPOA