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Messages to the surfaces fleet

Sent April 11 to the Navy surface force:

Subject: Improvement of professional standards on the waterfront

I decided to do an impromptu visit to the waterfront yesterday morning and surprisingly, I was less than pleased with ship appearance, honors and ceremonies, and watchstanding. You are much more professional than this, and I specifically request you direct your personal attention to the following:

A. Overall ship appearance and pier cleanliness. The appearance of your ship demonstrates pride in your command. Attention to such details as properly frapping mooring lines, centering radar antennas, pier and parking lot cleanliness, lack of rust, etc., sets the standard and tone for what you do inside the lifelines. Ship commanding officers need to train CDO's to walk the pier/decks daily as a part of their duties.

B. Standards of conduct/appearance for inport watch teams. Accept nothing less than the best! The professional appearance and conduct of your inport watch teams are a reflection of your command, our Navy and our country. Watchstanders are responsible for ship security but must be ready to conduct appropriate honors and ceremonies flawlessly at a moments notice, uniforms should be impeccably pressed and in sharp overall condition, shoes polished, and haircuts in regulation. I want to get "back to the basics" and remember our core competencies. We are professional sailors first, last, and always. We are part of the world's greatest navy. Demonstrating pride in our service is of the utmost importance. It is an essential ingredient to combat readiness — show me a sharp ship, and I will show you a ship ready to fight!

Keep charging and stay professional!

VADM Curtis sends.

Sent April 11 to the chiefs of the surface force:

Shipmates, I have always been incredibly proud to be the Surface Force Master Chief, today however was the first time during my tenure that I have to say that I was PROFESSIONALLY EMBARRASSED! Let me start by saying we made a no notice drive around the San Diego waterfront today with our new force commander, VADM Curtis. Here are some of the issues I saw today: Overall ship appearance and cleanliness was substandard. Mooring lines improperly frapped and rat guarded, chaffing gear hanging from the side or just layed over lines (some looked like they were white bath towels). Sailors walking around the base with coffee cups or sodas in their hands, hands in their pockets, filthy coveralls, sleeves half rolled up. Quarterdecks failed to render honors (ONLY one of the six ships we drove by attempted on our second pass to render honors). NOT ONE OOD CAME OUT TO THE END OF THE BROW TO SALUTE! - Sailors on the piers failing to render salutes. Numerous Sailors were staring at the silver SUV, with headlights on with a THREE STAR PLACKARD in the window. We drove about 2 miles per hour and MOST failed to salute. One Sailor was sitting on a stack of pallets and just gave a lazy salute from there, he didn't even stand. UNSAT! These are just a few examples and the first impression our new Commander has of the Pacific Surface Force. We are all much better than this! The appearance of your Ship, the sharpness of your Quarter Deck Watches, the appearance and conduct of the Sailors these are all indicators and in my mind fall squarely on us as Chief Petty Officers. "Chief's will actively teach, uphold and enforce standards" this line is direct from our Mission Vision and Guiding Principles, it is not what I saw today. We need to take this to heart. Don't be afraid to correct discrepancies within your ship, and whenever and wherever a Sailor needs adjusting. Regardless of the Ball Cap he or she wears, we need to correct a discrepancy WHEN WE SEE IT! Doing nothing or ignoring things sends a message and sets a standard as well, one we don't want. Talk to your Messes and take for action! R/FORCE FORCM(SW/AW) Mike Schanche Force Master Chief Commander Naval Surface Forces

Message sent April 18 to the surface force

Subject: Self assessment//

1. The purpose of this message is to express my concern about our ability to self assess, and direct specific corrective actions.

2. Our ships are the most complex and capable machines any country has ever built. We have been entrusted by our nation to be good stewards of our sailors and these magnificent warships. A key tenant in achieving and sustaining combat readiness is our ability to critically self-assess our ships, ship systems, and equipage, with Technical rigor.

3. Recent formal and informal assessments and inspections indicate that our self-assessment capability has declined, resulting in reduced readiness. We made a lot of changes in the surface force in the past few years. It is appropriate to take a strategic pause to get back to basics on how we maintain and operate our ships. We must conduct a rigorous assessment of the impact on readiness of theses changes so we can make appropriate course corrections. I will highlight five specific areas where I expect improvement:

A. Adherence to high standards. Commanding officers are responsible to their ISICs for establishing and maintaining high standards of operational, material, and training readiness. There is plenty of help available to you from TYCOM, CLASSRONS, ATG, and RMC, but you have to drive this.

B. Procedural compliance. Our technically advanced ship systems must be operated in strict compliance with authorized procedures. Commanding officers must establish a command climate that tolerates nothing less. Whether conducting a routine engineering evolution, performing a maintenance item, or operating the gear, sailors must understand and follow the procedures.

C. Effective training. Training has changed significantly over the last several years. Schoolhouse training decreased as fiscal realities drove us to place more reliance on computer-based training. We are looking at this from an enterprise perspective to see if we have reduced enroute training too much. Meanwhile, commanding officers must establish a culture of training excellence with their experienced leaders already onboard. We will work together to accomplish the necessary training for our technicians and operators.

D. Adherence to established processes. Our senior leaders grew up using several tools that have proven successful in making warships ready for tasking. These include a robust 3M program, proper PMS, meaningful PMS spotchecks, regular zone inspections, proper documentation of material condition through quality CSMP entries, and proper reporting of mission degradations through the CASREP process. Even thorough sweepers are necessary to keeping warships mission capable and habitable. Commanding officers must ensure these processes are habits in the ship routine.

E. Ship ownership by wardroom, CPO mess and crew. While the challenges of operating a warship in an environment of constrained resources and high op-tempo may be great, the officers and crew can overcome these challenges with the right attitude and commitment to excellence. Complete ownership by everyone from the commanding officer on down manifests itself in a can-do attitude, and leads to mission accomplishment. Commanding officers must discuss this concept with their wardrooms and CPO messes. The CPO mess must have an attitude that no challenge is too great and no sailor will suffer from inadequate care, attention or training.

4. Your surface leadership is committed to reviewing many of the fleet-wide problems that challenge our ships, including manning and training, logistic support, maintenance funding, and other waterfront support. That said, solutions are difficult, and may be slow in coming. The good news is you have proven procedures and processes that are within your control inside your lifelines. I am counting on you to act now.

5. Keeping your ships ready for tasking is not a part time or event driven job. You work your readiness issues through an aggressive day to day ops regimen. Events that come along such as INSURV, deployment, or ULTRA C/E/S are not the drivers for your ships — they are events that serve to provide you data points on the success of your daily efforts. Success is measured not by events but by your efforts and leadership to instill in your crews technical expertise, procedural compliance, strong communications, and open, hard hitting assessments. You and your leadership teams must be on the deck plates asking questions and elevating the standard to meet your expectations.

6. Keep charging and be professional.

7. VADM Curtis sends.