Interesting...
And probably long overdue...
Surface warfare officers will soon assume command of all amphibious warships, bumping naval aviators from their previous positions as commanding officers, according to a Navy memo.
The April 24 directive, seen on Reddit and confirmed by the U.S. Navy, cites issues with amphibious ship readiness and operational availability as catalysts for removing naval aviators from their previous positions as commanding officers of specialized vessels that transport Marine Expeditionary Units.
Full article HERE from Navy Times.
One of the justifications, FWIW, was that aviators ‘needed’ a deep draft command prior to taking a carrier due to the ‘value’ of a carrier... And no P-3 bubba EVER got a carrier. Funny though, the XOs were always SWOs...
So this is going to impact primarily the aviators who fly off the carriers. It will be interesting to see what happens in the next couple of years.
And for a throwback...
USS Iwo Jima, 2003...
The Marines boil it down to basics...
‘Nuff said.
Back when I served in the AF, I was surrounded by pilots. The vast majority didn't impress me with their diligence or intelligence. Yet, they were almost always given squadron and group command as a sinecure even when utterly lacking any experience at that portion of the AF mission. The non-rated officers with long experience at their specific missions were put in as deputy commander so they could be made the goats for any failure. 🤦♂️
Back when they were converting spare Essex Class Bird Farms to LPH's it made some sense to let a Aval Naviator command them as a step up to the newer Bird farms.
That ended fifty something years ago. Gator Freighters are surface fleet and should be run by SWO's.