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Originally Posted by Kazuaki Shimazaki II
Paragraph 4: We got new cool computer screens all over the place. You are behind the times, old man. Now the OOD can glimpse at waterfall displays that he has only a basic understanding and experience of (compared to the dedicated sonar staff), second guess the sonarmen and constantly disrupt the sonar supervisor's attention! I don't want to explain how wanting to talk to the sonar supe directly means putting the rest of the sonar crew into the control room which would never be as quiet or undisturbed as their comfortable little alcove no matter what we do. Trust us, we really thought this over...
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You just hit THE BIGGEST problem most of us enlisted guys have with Virginia...the big move from the dedicated sonar shack into control.
1. Sonar talks a lot. They HVE to talk alot to do their job, and a lot of their talking as the kind of talking you don't really want on the open mike into the CO's stateroom. Control is kept quiet, especiallly when we're traking someone or going to PD, two of Sonar's busiest times. You figure out the disconnect.
2. Keeping sonar separate from the FTs, OOD, and section tracking parties actually provided independent analysis of contact solutions. If you move sonar into control, you lose that independent analysis, which a lot of times can save a party from bad solutions or total cluelessness.
Moving sonar into control seems to me like it cuts down on the...'indoctrination' the brand new sonar tech gets. The time you spend as broadband operator is much like the time other guys spend as helmsman; it is the time where you are listening, absorbing, and learning from the conversations going on around you.
It also cuts down on the power of the sonar supervisor, which is a baaaaad thing. The sonar sup is almost always the most experienced guy in the tracking party. The FTOW is a first termer, the OOD/JOOD are first termers, it is usually only the sonar sup who is on his second or third boat, often with time as an instructor behind him. He is the heart of the sonar watchsection, and to do his job he HAS TO TALK. He cannot do his job at all (much less effectively) if he keeps hearing "Quiet in control" every twelve seconds.
IMO. this is part of a drive to do two things (and these initiatives have been a long time in coming). The first is increasing the power of the wardroom in day-to-day operations (even though the wardroom has less tactical experience and seems to care about nothing but the reactor). The second is the drive to make everyone in the forward compartment interchangeable, so we all are the same rating. That dilutes the experience and knowlege base that our officers need to draw on to keep us safe.
I know a lot of sonar techs who would (and have) immediately refuse orders to any virginia class platform, and it is for these reasons. Maybe I'm just being an immovable traditionalist, but I really doubt it. What I think probably happened is the only people the consulted when designing this new platform were officers (who don't care where sonar is) and nucs (who care even less).
Sorry about the rant, but sonar does not belong in control. Why not just move the reactor operator and throttleman up there while we're at it?