Professional Military Education

Former Navy officer, Thibaut Delloue, has seen firsthand the problems that have plagued the US surface Navy for years. His book, The Wardroom, begins as a memoir. However, it turns into a straightforward assessment of issues that have led to several high-profile accidents, which included the collisions of the USS John S. McCain and USS Fitzgerald. Both warships crashed in 2017 and resulted in the deaths of 17 sailors.  We discuss Thibaut’s experience as a surface warfare officer (SWO) to include his training and lack thereof. Thibaut served on the destroyer USS Carney. His experience included tracking Russian submarines and battling ISIS in Libya. Topics of discussion also include:  An overview of the surface Navy and the areas of operations known as “fleets” How a Navy officer becomes a SWO Why the current training and readiness pipeline is insufficient The inability of the surface Navy to be ready for future wars unless changes are made The leadership and command climate within the surface Navy that priori