'Every officer is up to speed on diversity training. Not so much ship handling'

Scathing official report finds US Navy is too woke for war because of risk averse, politically correct, control-freak top brass  

• Members of Congress commissioned the report on issues in the surface 
• Navy Came in response to fire on ship in San Diego and two ship collisions in Pacific 
• Retired Marine general and Navy admiral spoke with current and former officers 
• They identified a number of disturbing trends in Navy leadership and training 
• Many officers said that diversity training took precedence over warfighting 
• They claimed combat readiness had become a 'box-checking' exercise 

 By Keith Griffith For Dailymail.com Published: 10:58 EDT, 13 July 2021

A scathing new report commissioned by members of Congress has claimed that the Navy's surface warfare forces have systemic training and leadership issues, including a focus on diversity that overshadows basic readiness skills.

The report prepared by Marine Lt. Gen. Robert Schmidle and Rear Adm. Mark Montgomery, both retired, came in response to recent Naval disasters, including the burning of the USS Bonhomme Richard in San Diego, two collisions involving Navy ships in the Pacific and the surrender of two small craft to Iran.  The authors conducted hour-long interviews with 77 current and retired Navy officers, offering them anonymity to identify issues they wouldn't feel comfortable raising in the chain of command.  The report found that a staggering 94 percent of the subjects believed the recent Naval disasters were 'part of a broader problem in Navy culture or leadership.' 

'I guarantee you every unit in the Navy is up to speed on their diversity training. I'm sorry that I can't say the same of their ship handling training,' said one recently retired senior enlisted leader............Some of the respondents expressed concerns that when combat lethality and warfighting are emphasized, they are treated in a box-checking manner that can seem indistinguishable from non-combat related exercises..... Former Secretary of the Navy John Lehman made the startling claim that of the four key admirals who led the Navy to victory in World War II, none would make the rank of captain in today's fleet.  'Nimitz put his first command on the rocks,' Lehman said. 'And Halsey was constantly getting into trouble for bending the rules or drinking too much…Ernie King was a womanizer and a heavy drinker'............'Commanders can no longer take risks in a way that they can have small failures, learn, and move forward,' said one sailor. 'Failures are terminal to people's careers.' ............The report argues that the independence of command has been eroded and commanding officers fear risk due to its adverse impact upon their careers. .............Another issued identified in the report is a perceived fear among Navy leaders of any negative news articles.....................

At one point, the Navy even handed officers 23 compact discs with reading material for surface warfare wardroom training, replacing a five-month course at the Surface Warfare Officer School Division Officer's Course in Rhode Island..........'We gave ensigns boxes of CDs and told them to train themselves between watches, and that was a colossal failure,' one officer recalled. ........... Report suggests Navy is ill-prepared for major conflict with China........'Unless changes are made, the Navy risks losing the next major conflict.' ...........To Read More....