Vice CNO Franchetti, in her position as acting CNO, just
issued her first message to the fleet.
Any incredibly faint hope I held that she might be an improvement over
the recent string of inept, failed CNOs has been dashed. Her message was a vague collection of
buzzword garbage that contained only one worthwhile piece of information and
that was that all previous policies would remain in effect. Thus, she apparently sees all the problems
and is content with the status quo. Very
disappointing.
To be fair, she’s only acting CNO pending Congressional
approval so maybe she’ll change once approved but I think that’s highly
unlikely. She’s showing her colors right
now.
 |
| Another Failed CNO? |
No surprise here.
ReplyDeleteYes, no surprise.
DeleteShe is not real final decision maker thus she cannot say any revolutionary things.
Maybe at a deeper level, it doesn't seem possible at present to have a "revolutionary" leader. Someone suspected of potentially upsetting the gravy train would never make it to CNO. If they somehow did, they'd quickly be replaced.
DeleteI can't even figure, at this point, how many institutional layers of inaction would need to be overcome in order to correct the broken processes at work in the Navy. It would be beyond the scope of the CNO or the Navy itself, because both it and Congress are completely beholden to a heavily concentrated and sclerotic defense industry.
MikeDC, your comment originally went to the blog's spam folder. This has been a rare but recurring occurrence from time to time for everyone. About 1% of comments go to spam for no reason I can discern. I have no control over this. I make it a point to check the spam folder several times a day and I transfer the comments to the publish folder as soon as I see it. In the future, if a comment doesn't immediately show up, this is the likely explanation. Be patient and it will appear as soon as I see it. Sorry and thanks for understanding!
Delete" It would be beyond the scope of the CNO"
DeleteYes and, to a large extent, no. There are many actions the CNO could take, unilaterally, that would have immediate positive impacts on the Navy. For example, simply refusing to issue waivers would significantly improve safety and performance across the board. Another example is maintenance. Congress doesn't set maintenance standards and timing, the Navy does. CNO could simply insist that maintenance deferrals no longer be allowed. Just setting a requirement that ships be rust free and painted would be a vast improvement.
And so on.
There is much that a CNO with an ounce of integrity could accomplish with no outside assistance or approval required.
In case anyone's wondering about the specifics of her first statement here's a link to the usni article about it:
ReplyDeletehttps://news.usni.org/2023/08/17/vcno-franchetti-issues-first-guidance-to-fleet-as-acting-cno
Thank you sincerely,
DeleteSaves us (or me at least as I can be quite challenged and slow in the head at times) the trouble of having to look it up and of course for easier future reference. Now for solutions.... maybe a future president can fix this problem, after all, if I understand the link below correctly the answer seems to be "yes" although I admit I do not really understand all the "tangled parts" correctly so if someone with a better grasp of it could explain, please do, ok, in conclusion to the link below:
"In short, although the process is somewhat tangled, it is currently possible for the President to dismiss officers from the armed forces, even in the absence of criminal misconduct. That said, the incentives are such – not to mention professional propriety – that it’s extraordinarily unlikely that any President in the modern era would be obliged to force officers out, as almost all would retire if asked. But if it became necessary to compel an officer to leave the military, the Constitution and the law provide a way to make that happen."
https://sites.duke.edu/lawfire/2016/09/15/can-presidents-fire-senior-military-officers-generally-yesbut-its-complicated/
The system has devolved to produce Admirals like this. It's so bad that I'd prefer officer promotions to happen by putting all those names eligible in a jar and randomly draw names to be promoted.
ReplyDeleteMaybe spin the wheel? The Wheel of Admirals?
ReplyDeleteThis Franchetti is very passable, not anything like that Coast Guard person.
ReplyDeleteFor future reference, I assume you (Anonymous August 24, 2023 at 7:51 PM) are referring to Admiral Linda L. Fagan as the "Coast Guard person", a picture of her given in link below:
Deletehttps://www.uscg.mil/Biographies/Display/Article/3048180/admiral-linda-l-fagan/
I'll just copy and paste her biography here from the same link above:
Delete"Admiral Linda L. Fagan
Commandant, U.S. Coast Guard
U.S. Coast Guard
Admiral Linda L. Fagan assumed the duties as the 27th Commandant of the United States Coast Guard on June 1st, 2022. As Commandant, she oversees all global Coast Guard operations and 42,000 active-duty, 7,000 reserve, and 8,700 civilian personnel, as well as the support of 21,000 Coast Guard Auxiliary volunteers.
She previously served as the 32nd Vice Commandant. Prior flag assignments include Commander, Pacific Area, and Commander, Coast Guard Defense Force West; Deputy Commandant for Operations, Policy, and Capability; Commander, First Coast Guard District; and a joint assignment as Deputy Director of Operations for Headquarters, United States Northern Command.
Admiral Fagan has served on all seven continents, from the snows of Ross Island, Antarctica to the heart of Africa, from Tokyo to Geneva, and in many ports along the way. Operational tours include Commander, Sector New York, more than 15 years as a Marine Inspector, and sea duty in USCGC POLAR STAR, a 399 ft heavy polar icebreaker. Staff assignments include Executive Assistant to the Commandant and Vice Commandant, and Division Chief of the Foreign and Offshore Compliance Office.
Possessing extensive interagency as well as intergovernmental experience, Admiral Fagan has worked with both the International Maritime Organization and International Labor Organization on flag state and port state issues. This work includes the development of the International Ship and Port Security Code (ISPS), and the Consolidated Maritime Labor Convention.
Admiral Fagan holds a Bachelor of Science in Marine Science degree from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, a Master of Science in Marine Affairs degree from the University of Washington, and a Master in National Resource Strategy degree from the Industrial College of the Armed Forces. She has earned numerous personal and team awards during her 37 years of Coast Guard service. Admiral Fagan is the longest serving active duty Marine Safety Officer and holds the distinction of being the Coast Guard’s first-ever Gold Ancient Trident."
And for the record, as far as, I know Linda Lee Fagan nor Vice CNO Franchetti are not either a eunuch or a transsexual, they were are born women/female/etc. this is show by the statement from link below on Lisa Marie Franchetti:
"She is a mother. "
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lisa_Franchetti#Personal_life
To be fair there has been competent eunuch leaders most likely famous is the Chinese Admiral Zheng He who was originally born as Ma He in a Muslim family and later adopted the surname Zheng conferred by the Yongle Emperor know for the Treasure voyages as below:
Deletehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zheng_He
A good allegory for the United States Navy as Zheng He's ships were once the most advanced and still are the largest sailing wooden ship in the world has ever seen as mentioned in link below:
"However, scholars agree that the treasure ships were considerably large, some estimating the largest ones to be between 119–124 meters (390–408 feet) in length, while more conservative estimates puts them at about 60–76 meters (200–250 feet)."
https://www.amusingplanet.com/2015/07/zheng-hes-enormous-treasure-ships.html
Then China put a stop to the treasure voyages and was colonized by western/European powers later under the Qing dynasty that replaced the Ming empire.
Now imagined if China continued the Treasure voyages, and maintained the fleet costly as they were. If they had a smart Emperor (not too inbred) he could use the treasure fleet to keep his, the Ming empire, that Zheng He was part of, fed during Little Ice Age that, according to the link below, bought about its' fall by trading with other nations (or conquering kingdoms that had food) maybe import food from the nations Zheng He visited:
"Almost a century before Christopher Columbus sailed for the Americas, the Chinese admiral Zheng He traveled southward along the maritime silk road and established tributary relations with more than thirty countries in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. His treasure ships — enormous behemoths loaded to the brim with silk and fine porcelain, became the stuff of legends in Sri Lanka, Yemen, Somalia, and beyond.
Behind Zheng He stood the Ming Dynasty, the largest economy of the world at the time. As Zheng He sailed the seven seas, the Ming Emperor ordered the construction of the Great Wall and the Forbidden City, dredged and expanded the Grand Canal, and ushered in the so-called “last golden age” of the Chinese dynastic cycle.
Yet the world was not on the side of the Ming. The Little Ice Age (LIA) was a period of global cooling from the 16th century to the 19th century. Although we still do not fully understand the causes of LIA, we do know that the results of LIA are devastating — crops withered and died, plagues began spreading unchecked, widespread starvation became increasingly commonplace, and empires fell.
The Ming was not immune to the effects of LIA. Famines and plagues ruled the land by the end of the dynasty, and the empire fell long before the Manchus captured Beijing from the peasant rebellion."
https://medium.com/@hbjf/how-climate-change-killed-an-empire-5512141b86a
According to above: "The Little Ice Age reached its peak in China between 1500–1690."
And below for the treasure fleet:
(There was one last voyage under Yongle's grandson, Xuande, in 1430-33.)
https://www.thoughtco.com/why-did-the-treasure-fleet-stop-195223
So in that around 100 gap the Ming empire could have used her naval power to keep herself fed and prevented or at least somewhat helped during the famine the doomed the Ming Empire, not to mention the existence of the vast fleet could provide at least an early warning of the coming Europeans who in our history colonized China.
While Im not convinced anything will change for the better, in fairness- does anyone above E-6 speak in anything but buzzwords and meaningless generalities anymore???
ReplyDeleteI am truly disppointed. I was hoping for better.
ReplyDeleteKeep sounding the alarm! But history suggests meaningful change will only come from after a significant public failure. Even the Royal Navy in it's prime was guilty of hubris:
ReplyDelete- Storing munitions exposed outside of magazines to speed the critical "rate of fire" metric, leading to explosive results at Jutland.
- At one point officers avoided gunnery practice as it made ships dirty, and clean ships were the key to promotion.
I fear what historians will write about the US Navy and the opening shots with China. It will read like a tragedy.
https://news.yahoo.com/adm-franchetti-biden-pick-cno-110000953.html?fr=sycsrp_catchall
ReplyDeleteThis article is by Bryan Clark.
Many of his points are also mentioned here in other posts.
( shortfalls in ship building, training, and maintenance planning etc.) He does not discuss the lack of CONOPS in ship design. Also he seems to promote more unmanned systems. I am not a naval analyst but after reading CNO's posts here, I conclude that radical change is needed in our navy and not maintaining the status quo.
Also Clark does not get into new technologies being problematic after being introduced to the fleet. ( At least congress has forced the Navy to build a land based power plant to test it before installation into the Constellation frigate )
ReplyDeleteLook - the lady’s got seven rows of medals, so she’s got to be pretty special right?
ReplyDeleteI have a pic of General Eisenhower taken in 1942. He had THREE medals on his tunic. Not even three rows.
What a joke we’ve become.