Vengeance for the Ostfriesland?
I’ve heard of inter-service conflict, but…
In 1987, while flying off the aircraft carrier USS Saratoga, a Lt. j.g. Timothy W. Dorsey fired a missile at an Air Force F-4 reconnaissance jet piloted by then-Lt. Ross. He and his backseat officer ejected as the F-4 plunged into the sea.
A Navy investigation called Lt. Dorsey’s decision an “illogical act” that “raises substantial doubt as to his capacity for good, sound judgment.”
“The September 22, 1987, destruction of USAF RF-4C was not the result of an accident, but the consequence of a deliberate act,” the investigator wrote. “His subsequent reaction [to the radio command] demonstrated an absolute disregard of the known facts and circumstances.”
The Navy banned him from flying for life.
The Senate adjourned without considering Dorsey’s promotion to Admiral. The USAF crew survived, but the pilot has experienced severe back pain since the incident. To say the least, the story of Dorsey’s later career must be remarkably… interesting.
Ian:
January 5th, 2013 at 6:01 pm
From this article:
“The Navy banned him from flying, a punishment that at the time would seem to have ended the career of the Navy admiral’s son.”
Explained?
Ken Houghton:
January 5th, 2013 at 6:02 pm
The Navy “banned him from flying for life,” but “re-invented” him as a key cog in the GWoT.
Wonder what would have happened if his father hadn’t been a 3-star Admiral? Anyone not know which way to bet?
His father should have done the honorable thing. But he clearly never has.
The entire conceit of Top Gun has been shown to be a lie. Good thing Tony Scott doesn’t have to see this.
Lee Rudolph:
January 5th, 2013 at 6:04 pm
Note too that after the unfortunate illogical act he —as, among other things, a Navy intelligence agent.
Linnaeus:
January 5th, 2013 at 6:05 pm
Well, that answers my question as to why he was allowed to continue to have a career in the US Navy at all.
LosGatosCA:
January 5th, 2013 at 6:16 pm
Be happy he never got selected to be president by the Supreme Court.
Leeds man:
January 5th, 2013 at 6:27 pm
Did Dorsey give an explanation? Shouldn’t the outcome have been charges of attempted murder? WTF?
Leeds man:
January 5th, 2013 at 6:40 pm
A bit more background here.
Rennie:
January 5th, 2013 at 6:53 pm
Isn’t there something about this story that reminds one of John McCain and his father?
ZekeNY:
January 5th, 2013 at 7:16 pm
I can’t decide how to react. Either:
(a) I’m surprised the Republicans haven’t (yet) nominated him for Vice President;
or
(b) Finally, we’ve found someone who hates the Air Force more than Farley.
Seitz:
January 5th, 2013 at 7:19 pm
I was wondering the exact same thing. He shot at one of his fellow servicemen on purpose. How is he not in jail, let alone up for a promotion?
Seitz:
January 5th, 2013 at 7:20 pm
Ok, the report below makes a bit more sense I guess.
rea:
January 5th, 2013 at 7:27 pm
Although . . .
Dorsey admitted he had forgotten that the Phantom had refueled from a National Guard tanker only minutes before.
LosGatosCA:
January 5th, 2013 at 7:32 pm
Define ‘bit’ please.
LosGatosCA:
January 5th, 2013 at 7:36 pm
Seriously? ‘I forgot’ stopped working for me at 14. And that was just on taking my shoes off in the house.
But I guess if your dad is an admiral (mine wasn’t) you don’t get those kind of extended privileges.
LosGatosCA:
January 5th, 2013 at 7:40 pm
On the other hand this guy seems perfectly suited for military intelligence where screw ups can just be stamped ‘Super Duper Secret’ and nobody needs to know much of anything about what you do, how much it costs, or if it even needs to be done at all. How else can we get to a $800B budget with no oversight?
lawguy:
January 5th, 2013 at 7:41 pm
I’m curious do general’s sons get the same kind of “benefits”?
Julia Grey:
January 5th, 2013 at 7:42 pm
People are asking why he’s even being considered for promotion. Isn’t the “up or out” policy still in effect? Since they let him stay in for 25+, hasn’t he gotten to the point of longevity where he either has to be promoted or he has to retire?
I say, make the guy retire. Let’s allow that his long service in (*choke*) Naval Intelligence has made some recompense for the aircraft he destroyed and the men he injured. Fine. Now he should do the honorable thing and take his cushy O-6 pension and SCRAM.
(I thought the little detail about how he never apologized to Ross until his promotion was up before the Senate was…interesting, too.)
Julia Grey:
January 5th, 2013 at 7:44 pm
Yes.
Julia Grey:
January 5th, 2013 at 7:47 pm
No wonder Farley and I have never gotten along.
.
.
What?
Colin Day:
January 5th, 2013 at 7:49 pm
Didn’t the Army sink the Ostfriesland? The US didn’t even have an independent Air Force in 1921?
rea:
January 5th, 2013 at 7:49 pm
Well, it took a series of screwups to cause this–the people on the carrier who loaded the plane with live ammunition, the controller on the carrier who ordered him to shoot, and his rear-seat observer (who substantially outranked him) who also told him to shoot. But, yeah, we don’t want officers, and particularly not admirals, who obey direct orders they know are foolish and illegal.
rea:
January 5th, 2013 at 7:54 pm
Well, they didn’t let him stay in the Navy, exactly–they let him stay in the reserves. He’s spent most of the last 21 years as a civilian lawyer.
efgoldman:
January 5th, 2013 at 8:07 pm
Its not too late….
pete:
January 5th, 2013 at 8:09 pm
Immediately
Julia Grey:
January 5th, 2013 at 8:10 pm
It was a war game.
Yes, they shouldn’t have loaded live ammunition. But that’s what they did, and they apparently did it on all the Navy gamers that day. Nobody was supposed to use it, but they all had it on board in order to “maintain readiness,” or some such nonsense, I suppose.
SO, when they were in the process of playing the wargame, all the other people in the chain of command didn’t have a clue that he would think they were ordering him to actually shoot that live ammunition,
BECAUSE IT WAS A WAR GAME.
He was supposed to put the AF plane in his sights and the “shooting” everyone else thought they were ordering would be some kind of game “mark” punched in at a certain point so that he’d get CREDIT for the (mock) shoot down.
But he for some reason was suddenly caught up in the idea that he was involved in something real (RUSSKIES!!!) even though he’d seen the “enemy” aircraft refueling from our own tanker just minutes before.
So he took the GAME command as a REAL one, and used his live ammunition to deliberately shoot the other aircraft down.
Wow.
Like they said, the judgment and decision making capacity he demonstrated was… there are no words. I wonder…did they take a blood test for drugs?
efgoldman:
January 5th, 2013 at 8:11 pm
Fuck ups at 30,000 feet. Some Navy commanders, as well as Dorsey, should have been court-marshaled.
Julia Grey:
January 5th, 2013 at 8:15 pm
Ah, I missed that.
Even less reason to promote him, then, even in the reserves.
He hasn’t nearly paid for that aircraft yet.
KLG:
January 5th, 2013 at 8:51 pm
And grandfather, who also had 4 stars.
montag2:
January 5th, 2013 at 9:02 pm
When does Dorsey dump his wife, move to Arizona, marry a beer heiress and run for the Senate?
i.boskone:
January 5th, 2013 at 9:04 pm
I’m surmising that the USAF balking at aircraft carrying live ordnance during exercises may stem from this incident.
Ahistoricality:
January 5th, 2013 at 9:20 pm
They had to negotiate a no-live-ammo agreement? Do they normally do pistols at dawn?
cpinva:
January 5th, 2013 at 9:36 pm
that was the first thing that i thought of:
he should have been in the brig, not at a desk, or in the navy at all.
cpinva:
January 5th, 2013 at 9:45 pm
i believe it’s swords.
yeah, i have never heard of live ammo ever being used in war games, period. because, well, um, they’re games!
btw, having an admiral for a daddy helped john mcain out, lots, from gaining admission to the naval academy (he didn’t qualify, academically), to gaining entre’ to the naval aviator program (again, didn’t qualify). being shot down over north vietnam was, at least in part, the consequence of his failure to follow orders (apparently, from interviews with fellow officers, not an unusual event), which put him where he shouldn’t have been.
so yeah, having an admiral (or senator, etc.) for a daddy (or mommy) covers up a host of sins.
cpinva:
January 5th, 2013 at 9:47 pm
yeppers!
cpinva:
January 5th, 2013 at 9:48 pm
that may well be part of the reason for the promotion:
admirals make more than captains.
joe from Lowell:
January 5th, 2013 at 10:16 pm
Do the other services have the same “aristocratic bloodlines” attitude that the Navy seems to have?
Warren Terra:
January 5th, 2013 at 10:18 pm
Please clarify: your problem with Farley is his dislike of the Air Force, or the fact that his dislike is in fact capable of being exceeded?
joe from Lowell:
January 5th, 2013 at 10:28 pm
(b) +1
Woodrowfan:
January 5th, 2013 at 10:42 pm
don’t read the comment son the Wash Times article. It doesn’t take long for BENGHAZI! OMG! FAST AND FURIOUS!
maroon:
January 5th, 2013 at 11:16 pm
What was your MOS?
oxymoron >> moron
Kyle:
January 6th, 2013 at 12:23 am
He hasn’t crashed five planes yet, so he’s still one up on McAngry.
I’m gratified that the Navy is such a meritocracy.
Pestilence:
January 6th, 2013 at 12:53 am
emphatically so
Murc:
January 6th, 2013 at 2:37 am
Not the Marines so much, although it’s still present there to a degree. But yes, basically all of them.
grouchomarxist:
January 6th, 2013 at 2:49 am
Anyone else reminded of that scene from The Bedford Incident?
Captain Finlander: Now don’t worry, Commodore. The Bedford’ll never fire first. But if he fires one, I’ll fire one.
Ensign Ralston: [launching the rocket] Fire One!
jon:
January 6th, 2013 at 5:50 am
Wow. That makes Dorsey’s shootdown seem like an even greater act of depraved indifference. It seems to be an inherent problem of the training and readiness regimen – much of the repetition is undertaken to develop followthrough and muscle memory so that actions can be completed under the stress and disorientation of combat. The training also seeks to overcome humans general reluctance to kill other humans. Repetitive training exercises helps to mentally distance you from the reality of the action. Perhaps Dorsey learned a little too well?
rea:
January 6th, 2013 at 7:45 am
(RUSSKIES!!!)
More likely Libyans . . .
JoyfulA:
January 6th, 2013 at 10:25 am
Arthur MacArthur
Bill Murray:
January 6th, 2013 at 10:42 am
well it is the WaTimes
bob mcmanus:
January 6th, 2013 at 11:20 am
Now don’t worry, Commodore. The Bedford’ll never fire first. But if he fires one, I’ll fire one.
Ensign Ralston: [launching the rocket] Fire One!
Major Kong:
January 6th, 2013 at 11:21 am
I know people who have ejected. The chances of injury during an ejection are 100%.
The seat hits you with 17 G’s and then you hit the air going however fast the plane was going when you ejected.
It beats crashing and burning but it’s not something you’d want to do.
Major Kong:
January 6th, 2013 at 11:29 am
Back when I was a T-38 instructor we had a general’s son go through the program.
He really wanted to fly the F-16 but based on his performance in pilot training there’s no way he was qualified to do so.
The general called the commander of the training unit and said in no uncertain terms that his son was going to fly F-16s.
Sure enough the kid ended up punching out of a perfectly good F-16 because he got disoriented in the weather and ended up heading straight down through the overcast.
MosesZD:
January 6th, 2013 at 12:33 pm
Back in the early 1980s I had a friend get an Article 15 because he’d written some checks against his payroll deposit that was supposed to go in on that day. But CBPO failed to get it in for another week (even though his LES said it was in on the right date) on the right date and so three checks bounced. (All of which he made good without anyone up the CoC forcing him.)
He was reduced in rank to E-3 from E-4 (with a promotion to E-5 scheduled within two months), was denied re-enlistment and was discharged with a discharge code that prevented his reenlistment for a two-year period.
His dad wasn’t a general or an admiral. Go figure.
Julia Grey:
January 6th, 2013 at 8:28 pm
The agreement was probably that there’d be no live ammo used under any circumstances IN THE GAME (sometimes it is used in war games, within certain guidelines/safeguards).
I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that there was some kind of Thing in the fleet during the Cold War which dictated that Navy aircraft never left a carrier without some kind of ammunition loaded.
In any case, yes, agreements were needed regarding live ammunition because sometimes it is used. The location and circumstances of the use have to be negotiated pretty carefully.
Julia Grey:
January 6th, 2013 at 8:42 pm
Heh.
(I largely agree with him that the the Air Force’s role in direct ground support of tactical infantry operations can sometimes be dangerously redundant/ill-coordinated. The Army and Marines should do their own. However, we still need strategic surveillance, transport and communications services, as well as space-based operations that we should probably leave in USAF hands.)
ajay:
January 7th, 2013 at 4:24 am
IIRC, if you eject once, you lose an inch in height, permanently, and can apply for your Martin-Baker Club tie. (Criterion for admission: to have had your life saved by a Martin-Baker ejection seat.)
If you eject twice, you lose another inch in height and your wings – third and subsequent ejections are just too risky.
ajay:
January 7th, 2013 at 4:25 am
Then again, if he’d shot down an airliner and killed everyone on board, they’d probably have given him a medal.
Cody:
January 7th, 2013 at 9:49 am
Yes, well we all know what they say about the intelligence officers.
Cody:
January 7th, 2013 at 10:04 am
Question: Why was he allowed to keep his wings if he was never allowed to fly again?
Isn’t that what they’re for? I’m guessing it’s just a prestige thing in the Navy. Now he’s an Admiral he has his wings (he even has combat experience! Does he get a star for shooting down a plane?)
Also, I’m really impressed everyone was okay in this incident. I would have though getting hit by a missile would kill you, without time to bail out. Guess my knowledge on missile damage is pretty much null.
Cody:
January 7th, 2013 at 10:24 am
Wow, that Staff Sergeant sounds hardcore.
“I’m not sure how I got out” (Read: I jumped out of that mother%!@$$# like a boss!)
Then, after jumping out of a shot B-52 he made himself a crutch and found someone to play cards with for 36 hours.
Someone get this man a drink.