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The OOD of the Fitzgerald that night was a young lieutenant jg. She was responsible for the safe navigation of a two billion dollar warship at night through commercial sea lanes. She hadn't slept in 22 hours. 
None of the bridge officers had had any rest before assuming the watch that night. The same was almost certainly true of the CIC watchstanders, minding the radars below.
The *captain* determined that he, too, had gone too long without sleep, and retired to his cabin in a situation that traditionally calls for captains to stay awake through, even at the expense of their own sleep needs.
Now, learning to be effective without sleep is a vital trait in any branch service. Part of basic training in the navy is meant to get you used to the idea of standing watches through the night and also to be able to wake up from sleep and be ready to fight the ship immediately.
There are dozens of positions that have to be manned 24 hours on a ship at sea. Your rotations are determined by how many qualified watchstanders you have for each position. For us, a 3-section watch was often the best you can do, though 4 was wonderful if you could swing it.
Our gunnery station required at least 2 watchstanders, and we rarely had more than six people qualified for a couple of years. So we stood 6-on, 12-off watches. That meant 12 hours of watch in every 24 hour period. It also meant that every third night you didn't get to sleep.
Ideally you sleep before watch. That's what the Navy expects. But try this- put a full day in a physically and mentally demanding job. Come home at 5 pm and try to go immediately to sleep, to get up at midnight. It can be done! But it's not easy.
The other option was 'day sleepers', or allowing midwatch-standers to go to bed after morning muster. Then they just have to sleep through the daily berthing cleaning and 1MC announcements, often with shrieking bosun's pipes (FLIGHT QUARTERS!), and people going about their day.
And if there is a battle drill, when that General Quarters alarm sounds, it doesn't matter if you had watch that night before.
There was no ship's policy guaranteeing day sleepers privileges, they left it up to the individual divisions. And it was, on more than one occasion, revoked as a punishment.
This all happens parallel to normal 8-hour working days, with regularly scheduled evolutions, and alongside fixing electronics casualties, which were never-ending and also didn't care about how much sleep you had.
None of this ever seems to be planned with everyone getting a proper share of rest in mind. And it goes on forever, for months and months at a time. Eventually, you wear down. Compromises are made, and those in charge overlook them because they're just as tired.
Have you ever stared at a PPI (what you think of when you picture a radar, aka "the roundy-roundy thing") for hours in a dark room while being rocked gently by the sea?
I will never forget one night, somewhere near the Philippines. I woke up after nodding off and decided to take a walk around CIC to get my blood flowing. Everyone was asleep. The surface side watch, the air side watch, the TAO, even the CWO in the chart room.
It only lasted a couple of minutes. Everyone hunched over their consoles, heads bowed or tilted over, resting headphones on shoulders. A radio crackled loudly and woke up a couple of guys, then they started talking, which woke up their neighbors.
My first thought when I heard about the Fitzgerald accident was "someone was asleep". And yep, the report seems to bear that out- either asleep, or at least dog tired and not at their best.
Sleep is considered to be the individual's responsibility. If you can't perform, you should have planned your sleep better. Real men suck it up and drink black coffee and smoke Marlboro Reds (and dip while inside or when the smoking lamp is out).
We can blame this on OPTEMPO and the incredible, neverending pace that the navy, especially a forward-deployed force like 7th Fleet, expects out of its people and equipment, and that is part of it. It's also a recruitment and retention issue.
But it's mainly just institutional inertia. "I suffered through this, so now you should. It will toughen you up." Every branch of service in every military the world over suffers from this condition, and this is (one of) the US Navy's particular versions of it.
There is a low limit to which even senior enlisted and most officers can improve things. Ships COs have to make sleep a priority, which means squadrons and fleets have to make it a priority. The Navy can learn to live a different way, but it has to do it as an organization.
Another experience I will never forget: the time on pier watch (carrying a rifle) when I had a long conversation with what I thought was a senior chief standing behind me that turned out to be a six foot tall yellow bollard (a post you tie ships to). I hadn't slept in two days.
The only way I really ever found to sleep instantly in the neverending up of caffeine and nicotine was to chug Nyquil. That usually put me down for a few solid hours, then it was back to mainlining coffee to counteract the grogginess.
One suggestion for the Navy: get rid of fucking boatswain's pipes at sea.
(Here is where I was going to play the incredibly long and blood-curdling flight quarters announcement but I can't find a good one to link to, so just imagine nails on a chalkboard for 30 solid seconds)
(Here is where I was going to play the incredibly long and blood-curdling flight quarters announcement but I can't find a good one to link to, so just imagine nails on a chalkboard for 30 solid seconds)
A little coda to this thread- last night I was up until 3. Woke up at 7. This is normal for me. It's been 14 years since I separated but I feel like the navy permanently broke my ability to sleep.
Oh look, finally some data suggesting not sleeping is bad
