And her being a lesbian contributed how? Captain Hazelwood of the Exxon Valdez had a well documented drinking problem, as evidenced by the suspension of his NYS driver's license due to DUIs. That likely contributed to that accident. I'm retired USN and if you think there weren't closet lesbians and gays in the Navy before "Don't ask, don't tell," I have a bridge for sale in Brooklyn.

 

And her being a lesbian contributed how? Captain Hazelwood of the Exxon Valdez had a well documented drinking problem, as evidenced by the suspension Of his NYS driver's license due to DUIs. That likely contributed to that accident. I'm retired USN and if you think there weren't closet lesbians and gays in the Navy before "Don't ask, don't tell," I have a bridge for sale in Brooklyn.

Agreed - I think the topic here is whether DEI promoted/assigned based on gender/sexual orientation rather than merit.

 

It is entirely possible that she was promoted over "more qualified" candidates for command because of a push for diversity, but the article doesn't really go into her qualifications and whether she was truly command-qualified. Another retired-USN guy who has seen lots of bad candidates of every type promoted over more qualified officers.

 

Your absolutely correct.

However, it does mention Cmdr. Gray was formerly a teacher from Yorkshire, England. (that speaks volumes) 🤨

I would like to see the comparison between how many male vs. female commanders the New Zealand Navy actually have, and what those percentages were a few years ago.

 

Considering it lost power and then went aground, I’d be more interested in who was running the engineering department.

I hear about the DEI boogeyman all day at work, but by and large the female mariners I’ve worked with are head and shoulders above the bottom 3/4 of the men. In the last 15 years I’ve sailed with one female captain that was not particularly competent or agreeable, and to be honest that was mostly a product of the dumpster fire of a company we were both at. Turds had a way of floating to the top.

The commanders of the Porter, Mcain, and Fitzgerald were all men though…

edit:
With a little digging it was easy to find she is a 19 year veteran of the Royal navy and had been seeking a teaching job upon leaving the navy, before she moved to New Zealand.

 

They bought a used ship from an oil company and they have budget problems for maintenance. It’s not terribly surprising to have an issue if maintenance is getting postponed. Now if they had plenty of time to drop anchor and get it set before drifting in to the shoal then that’s on them. I’d love to see the logs and position reports from when they went DIW to when they went aground. If it’s just a handful of minutes then I get it. If they had time to drop anchor but never attempted that then oops. If they dropped it but the hook wouldn’t set and they couldn’t use power to set it then I guess it’s just bad luck. I know an unset anchor in the sub 35’ boats I’ve run were of little use. You really need to set the hook with any of the anchors I used. Small Navy types but more danforths. Nothing in the half ton weights.

 

Can't speak to this one, but look at our own Secret Service and FEMA, HHS, Nuclear waste, etc.

 

It's such a huge story because usually it's a male heterosexual in charge. Evidently some are screw-ups, regardless of sex or sexuality...

 

I think they mis-understood her qualifications when they put her in charge of a littoral vessel.

 

She should have gone down with the ship.

 

I got a good response for that one but I decided to leave it alone.

 

Wow. The problem was hiring a teacher versus a surface warfare trained and experienced officer. You need a lot of experience to captain a ship, that experience comes over time in a career. This woman is practically a naval tourist.

 

19 years in the Royal navy makes her a tourist?

also, a surface warfare officer is the last person I’d want in command here.
This is essentially a commercial vessel doing the same mission that NOAA vessels crewed by noaa Corp and civmars does in the states. SWO’s are generally ok at the W part, not so great at the shop handling part in my experience.

 

Look no further than the USA. When Stephen Breyen retired from the US Supreme Court Biden said that his nomination for the next Supreme Court Justice will be a Black woman. Per his statement no others need apply.

 

In today's world she'll likely be promoted to Admiral...🙄

 

With a Navy of 5 ships probably not a lot of candidates available for ship commanders. She must have had some degree of experience to get hired. At least you would hope so. The article does not really say what all her credentials were for to merit the position. 19 years in the British navy must count as something.
If they just hired her because of her preferences then the ones doing the hiring should share the responsibility.

 

To further combat the amount of astound ignorance in the name of culture war, by a bunch of land lubbers no less.

Here is a good read by someone who has been there and done that.

Opinion: I was captain of a ship much like HMNZS Manawanui. Mine almost sank too

OPINION: We should wait until we know the facts before judging the captain.

www.nzherald.co.nz

 

Thank you for your service.

 

Which has exactly what to do with Marlins?

 

True......some Marlinspike activity? Yea, I got nothing.

 

Friggin' in the riggin'

 

New Zealand’s Lesbian Navy Captain Loses $100M Naval Ship in Peacetime Disaster – Ship Runs Aground, Catches Fire, and Sinks, Unleashing Oil Spill OFF

New Zealand Navy ship caught fire and sank in the Pacific Ocean

New Zealand’s navy has suffered its first peacetime ship loss since World War II when the $100 million multi-role support vessel HMNZS Manawanui ran aground off the southern coast of Upolu Island, Samoa, caught fire and eventually sank—triggering an environmental disaster in the process.

With all 75 passengers and crew evacuated, the vessel’s loss brings fresh scrutiny to the leadership under its openly lesbian commanding officer, Commander Yvonne Gray.

The Manawanui, originally built in Norway and repurposed for New Zealand’s Royal Navy with a substantial $103 million investment, was conducting a seabed survey mission when it hit a reef, according to maritime news outlet gCaptain.

WATCH:



Onboard were not only sailors but also civilian scientists and foreign personnel.

During a high-stakes nighttime evacuation, the crew was forced to abandon ship under perilous conditions, with life rafts tossed in violent seas and some occupants scrambling to reach shore through rough waters.

Three crew members required medical attention, with one for a dislocated shoulder and another for a back injury.

Samoan fire rescue team responded to the Manawanui vessel navy crew in distress. (Credit: Samoa Fire and Emergency Services Authority)

One injured navy crew (Credit: Samoa Fire and Emergency Services Authority)
gCaptain reported:

Videos and photos published by local media showed the Manawanui listing heavily and on fire with plumes of thick grey smoke rising after it ran aground. By 9 a.m. local time, the vessel had capsized and was “now submerged” after sinking beneath the surface, according to Reuters.

The New Zealand Defence Force stated that the cause of the grounding is currently unknown and will require further investigation. The ship was on its third deployment to the South West Pacific this year, with scheduled activities in the Kermadec Islands, Samoa, Tokelau, and Niue. It was due to return home on November 1st. The crew included seven civilian scientists and four foreigners.

The incident unfolded on Saturday evening, leading to a complex nighttime evacuation of all 75 crew members and passengers in challenging weather conditions. While New Zealand officials are praising the ship’s commanding officer, Commander Yvonne Gray, for her swift action, some question whether more could have been done to save one of only five fully operational ships in the underfunded and overworked RNZN fleet.

“Evacuating a ship at night is an incredibly complicated and difficult task,” remarked Maritime Component Commander Commodore Garin Golding. The crew began abandoning ship at 7:52 p.m., deploying into lifeboats amid challenging sea conditions. Rescuers battled strong currents and winds that pushed life rafts toward dangerous reefs, while swells added to the peril. The first sailor was rescued at 1 a.m. with the last recovered at 5:30 a.m. local time.

Most personnel were transferred from life rafts onto rescue vessels. However, one small raft capsized on a reef, forcing its occupants to wade to land. Despite the harrowing circumstances, injuries were minimal: two individuals were sent to the hospital—one for a dislocated shoulder and another for a back injury—while 12 to 15 others suffered minor cuts and abrasions.

Commander Yvonne Gray (Credit: New Zealand Defense Force)

Commander Gray, formerly a teacher from Yorkshire, England, took command of the vessel just last year. Her appointment marked another milestone in the Navy’s diversity agenda, but critics argue that such priorities may have overshadowed critical operational readiness.

Commodore Garin Golding praised Gray’s leadership, citing the complexity of a nighttime evacuation, but the incident has sparked debates on whether this “diversity-first” approach compromised the Navy’s standards.

According to the press release in 2022:

Harrogate-born Yvonne Gray trained as a teacher and once hoped to open her own restaurant. Instead she said she found her perfect niche as a naval officer, first in the Royal Navy and now in the Pacific with the Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN).

Today, Commander Gray took the helm of the RNZN’s dive, hydrographic and salvage vessel HMNZS Manawanui, based at Devonport Naval Base in Auckland. Manawanui is Māori for ‘steadfast’ or ‘big heart’.

It is her first ship command in a naval career that started in the United Kingdom in 1993 as a warfare officer. Her service as a warfare officer ranged from working on aircraft carriers to frigates and mine hunters.

In 2012, Commander Gray and her wife Sharon moved to New Zealand after falling in love with the country during a camper van holiday.

“The most obvious thing to do was join the Royal New Zealand Navy,” she said.

I'm just glad nobody was killed...

 

DEI hire. Incompetent. One of the reasons DEI hires occur is to fill the lesbian quota. Why else would someone with no ship driving experience be given that job?

 

She was in the royal navy for 19 years and served as an officer on a variety of ships.

Why is it when white guys make mistakes, one just like this even, it’s never this vile question of their sex or sexuality affecting their credentials or experience

I’ve watched an entire DP advanced class get tricked into a similar mistakes in a full bridge simulator. The only person to correctly make the decision to mash the bail out button on the DP console and revert to full manual control in time was a female college classmate of mine.

The bridge crew of the John McCain continuously fingered the control transfer buttons, tried to take over in the emergency steering space, and eventually crossed in front of a tanker resulting in multiple DEATHS.

The crew of seastreak wallstreet didn’t properly transfer control from the center to wing station on docking and hit the dock in the East River grievously injuring multiple passengers.

some good ole boys from Matthews country Virginia on a vane brothers tug the Long Island drove a loaded tank barge straight through the pier and pipeline at IMTT Bayonne pier A after having throttle and control issues, not addressing them correctly, not calling for an assist, and not verifying either engine would go astern until they actually needed to.

With some research I could keep going, but believe it or not no one categorizes maritime incidents based on the sex, sexual preference, or race of the vessels commanders and crew.

 

DEI is a prime example of reverse discrimination. People are promoted or hired based on a political agenda not for merit or skill and expertise. Its all fine and dandy until lives are at stake or put at risk.

 

This newspaper article (NZ Herald) may shed some light on the matter.
An "operational" failure! Failure to disengage auto-pilot.

Expert says Manawanui sinking due to NZDF staff's ‘lack of knowledge’ with autopilot system

An interim report found the autopilot was not disengaged when it should have been.

www.nzherald.co.nz

 

“Autopilot” is unfortunately an over simplification of the system they were likely using and how they were using it based on the work.

the HMNZS Manawanui was equipped with a kongsberg K-POS Dynamic Position 2 system. It’s a network of sensors, computers, and thrusters that can control the vessels motion in a variety of ways. So instead of manually steering, or even just inputting course corrections on a single axis (heading) with a normal autopilot, you can do a variety of other maneuvering functions. While station keeping is generally what people think of with these, they’re actually also used extensively for survey work as you can make much more accurate passes. The system can control the vessel in theee ways, heading, surge, and sway. Heading being turning or twisting, surge being fore and after motion, and sway being side to side. You can enable all three or a combination of only two, using a joystick to control the motions not engaged in the DP system.
There are hundreds of DP enabled vessels working worldwide in offshore oil and gas, offshore wind, and research work everyday. There are also a lot of incidents related to mistakes while operating the system.
The Nautical Institute in Europe has been recognized as the training and certification organization for DP for decades. When I was in the licensing track for my DP unlimited there was an introduction class of several days in a partial simulator, 30 days of logged experience with assessments on a classed vessel with a DP unlimited holder, a second advanced class of several days in a full bridge simulator, and then 210 more days of experience. Oil and gas went in the toilet in 2014 when I was about 8-10 days shy of submitting after 2.5 years as mate and chief mate on a similar sized and equipped supply vessel to the HMNZS Manawanui.

As to the incident itself, being a “military vessel” I doubt we’ll ever see bridge VDR transcripts or data in a released casualty report, but I would wager they were operating with heading, and likely sway enabled, with surge on joy stick control to manually control speed. Now the Kongsberg unit I used was a more vintage SDP 21, but you didn’t get audio or any kind of flashing alerts when you disengaged control functions manually. The only time you did is if you had do an emergency drop out. Mash the covered button and totally drop to the manual controls instantly.
so they probably went to make a course change and change how the system was in control, didn’t get the heading control disengaged, and went straight to thinking they had a thruster issue.