You spent a lot of time in this industry. When has it not been that knee jerk reactions were the norm?? This is one of the most reactionary industries I can think of.
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All reactive, never proactive. Its just business.
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Whey are all training ships 10k tons+? A 2000 ton ship costs orders of magnitude less to build, maintain, and operate than one five times bigger. Because it’s cheaper it will be far more likely to leave the dock. Training ships are used so infrequently, in part, because of the expense of running them.
I sailed on a training ship. I’ve sailed on container ships, tankers, factory trawlers, and Aleutian freighters. There is nothing a neophyte officer is going to miss on a 250’ long boat in terms of learning compared to a 700’ long boat, and they’re going to learn a lot more if that boat left the dock 10 weekends during the school year with them on it, in addition to the cruise.
Students would get exposure to larger ships during internships.
If there’s a problem with tonnage/seatime/hp requirements towards a thirds just change the cfrs having to do with academy training.
The mindset of people who run MMAs is that any ship less than 500 feet loa is a toy and little useful can be learned from it. It’s an expensive obsession, costing the tax payers billions over the years, but not one likely to change.
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You are correct sir. Still sucks.
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Yes but it is the same old, same old with the same instructor. Their nothing like going to sea and on different vessels.
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