[PSUBS-MAILIST] Fw: Sub Skippers

["Steven Mills" <barycenter@earthlink.net>]

http://www.submarinestore.com/stories/facts-SubSkippers.htm
  


Friday, May 02, 2003 


With Rare Exceptions, Sub Skippers are
Confident, Stellar Performers 
By Robert A. Hamilton


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When retired Navy Capt. John Donlon of Mystic was working as a squadron commander in Norfolk, Va., he had a submarine skipper working for him who could handle the toughest technical problems.

When an inspection team simulated a devastating casualty to his ship's reactor, he quickly put everything back in order.

But less than two months after Donlon moved on to another job, the skipper was relieved of command when he came into port with an exotic dancer on the submarine's sail planes.

"He was a great skipper, but you had to keep him focused on the job," Donlon recalls.

Donlon added that failures are the exception - of hundreds of submarine commanding officers that he evaluated over his career, only a few were not capable of doing the job, and most were stellar performers.

Only twice in the last decade has a submarine skipper been relieved of command for something other than a collision or ship grounding, including the skipper of the USS Augusta earlier this year, the first incidence in many years in the fleet at the Naval Submarine Base in Groton.

The low failure rate is considered a testimonial to the effectiveness of the selection process for command, but most former submarine skippers, and those who have gone on after command to supervise other skippers, agree that there is no specific personality type that makes a good commanding officer, or CO.

The legendary Chester M. "Whitey" Mack, for instance, spent a lot of his off-duty time with his crew; many other good skippers maintain a strict separation to keep the relationship professional. Some skippers are extroverts, while others are introverts. Some are engineers, others lean more to the liberal arts.

"It isn't strictly a matter of whether you stood first in your class - matter of fact, some people who stood first in their class couldn't lead a two-car funeral," said retired Vice Adm. Daniel Cooper, a former commander of the Atlantic submarine force.

Retired Adm. Carlisle A.H. Trost, a former Chief of Naval Operations and a submariner of wide renown, said there are some characteristics that every submarine skipper must have, and chief among them is personal integrity. He is going to lead the ship into dangerous situations - that's the nature of his job - and he has to have the confidence of his crew.

And, he said, the skipper must have confidence in himself. 

"I think command of a submarine is one of the most satisfying jobs that anyone can have," Trost said. "But if someone is scared of it, they're never going to do the job well ... and there are people who are afraid to fail, afraid they won't look good to their seniors."

A skipper must have physical and mental stamina because there will be long periods without sleep in stressful situations, such as sitting off a coast to do electronic surveillance while enemy surface craft try to find you, or tailing an unfriendly submarine that has ventured within firing range of the United States.

The job requires someone who can balance often-competing demands. A submarine skipper must be both a cheerleader for the crew, and its disciplinarian. He must be the symbol of ultimate authority, but approachable by everyone on the ship.

Retired Capt. John J. Demlein Jr. of Mystic, who commanded two submarines, said the best skippers are those who, through whatever means, bring out the best in their crews.

"I used to tell my crew, the greatest thing that they could do was make the CO redundant, unnecessary," Demlein said. "Now that's not ever going to completely happen, but that's what we should strive for."

That often means stepping back to let the ideas flow freely among the men, he said, "but not so freely that the train is up to speed and off the tracks before you can react."

The selection process to become a submarine captain is rigorous. Retired Capt. Ray Woolrich said of 240 people who became submarine ensigns the year he did, just 30 advanced through junior officer, department head and executive officer assignments to become eligible for command, and only a handful of those men got it.

At each step, the submarine officer is evaluated to determine whether he is able to inspire people, whether he has an understanding not just of the command center, but the entire ship, from bow to stern. 

"You don't stay that kind of a course unless you're really committed to it, and you're able to do it," Woolrich said.

And not everyone who makes it to executive officer, the second in command, is going to chosen to move up.

"I once had a commanding officer who worked for me say that good 'execs' don't necessarily make good COs," said Trost. "A good 'exec' will get all the details right and get everything done, but they don't necessarily have the ability to stand back and just let people do their jobs. They have to take their hands off and turn over the responsibility to the crew."

Technical competence tops anyone's list of characteristics for a good submarine CO. That was the basis for the removal of the Augusta skipper - the ship had just returned from a North Atlantic deployment and was going through a repair period, when an inspection team from Naval Reactors discovered a number of shortcomings in the engineering spaces, according to Navy sources.

A submarine captain must demonstrate proficiency in engineering, seamanship, navigation, tactics and a host of other specialties, Demlein said, "but it's been my experience that most COs don't fall out of the 'fraternity' because they're lacking in those areas."

Instead, it often boils down to whether the submarine skipper has an indefinable ability to make people follow him, and to bring out the best work of every sailor on the crew.

"A successful CO has to be a good leader and a good manager," Demlein said. "Someone who is a one-man show, who doesn't let people make their own mistakes and then corrects them, will be in trouble eventually."