Naval ship crewing question

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Originally Posted by weaselrunner Was just reading an article over on strategy page. The article kept referring to reduced crews due to automation. While this is great during peace time, what about wartime? During battle when you have taken damage and casualties, systems are failing, what do you do? Hope for the best or just say screw it and abandon ship because you don't have enough hands for d/c? Is this the newer and improved thinking in naval design?

All about the Benjamins

Personnel costs are the single biggest budget item for the services. If they can do the same jobs with less people, the military managers (not leaders) will embrace it.

A couple schools of thought are happening here at the same time:

1, We don't really fight "Naval Wars" anymore and mostly spend our time "Stomping Midgets" in the jungles and the mountains. Therefore the chance of a ship or fleet taking heavy damage is nil.

2. Modern Weapons are so powerful that the average naval ship hit with a few missiles is going to either be instantly sunk, burn to the water line or have to be scuttled. Damage control in wartime is now more focused on rescuing survivors.

3. In order to be able to save money and fight unpopular wars, the move to fully automated combat systems is a desirable goal. Taking the Men out of the military is a wet dream for most generals, as managing personnel and all their "little problems" takes away time that is better spent on the golf course.

Robots don't mind killing protesters, civilians and other troublesome actors. They can be programmed to "forget" certain things and can't testify at trials and hearings before Congress. Any mistake made will be attributed to "bugs" and computer errors and not lead to repercussions for senior leadership.

4. The "Girls" on the ship can't really do damage control, so why bother trying. Women can't carry and drag injured grown men, use the hoses, axes, pry bars and wrenches. Some can barely carry their own gear on the their back.

It used to be that everyone's first job was to fight fires and do damage control. The ship, your shipmate's lives and your life depended on everyone being able to act in a crisis.

I believe the managers think this is outmoded thinking designed to make women in the service (now 18% of the Navy) look and feel bad about themselves.

5. "Cost is King", until it isn't. Until automated systems are proven to fail, over and over again, with many lives lost, you will continue to see a reduction in crew sizes, as much as possible.

It's all about bean counters and math.

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Naval ship crewing question