The Navy has about three times as many captains as it has ships and subs. It won't miss the ones who can't even steer in a straight line.

Eh? I seem to remember the MOD being monstrously upset that a) a RN destroyer literally came within minutes of sinking b) this happened outside of wartime and c) that no idiot on the bridge so much as looked at a chart.

The only reason the Commander wasn't dismissed was because he wasn't aboard and wasn't in command. The Officer of the Watch was dismissed, the guy in command at the time was dismissed from the ship and a third blokey received a severe reprimand.

It cost £39m to fix that ship, and it wouldn't have even made it back to Blighty were it not for the RNZN and RAN.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/th ... 79646.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Nottingham_(D91)#Grounding

Yes they could have two captains per ship so that the ships are used to their fullest.


Yes an expensive mistake. I was not 100% sure of what happened next. I knew it was carried back to the UK on the back of a specialist transport, which would been expensive.