The Ordinary Ship

THE ORDINARY SHIP


“In the ultimate life is fair
If you only learn to take care
Of what you truly believe
And carry on without anybody’s by or leave”

- Barry


1. It was an ordinary ship nobody was extraordinary. The new Captain was a mediocre personality. Nobody expected any miracles from this commission. The wardroom was like any other wardroom, a mixture of good and average. Most of the senior sailors had been on board for nearly 5 years and for quite a few of them it was the 3rd commission. There was a feeling that "Yeh Naya cheez kya karega". (what will this new guy do to us)

2. The Captain somehow knew that he had a long way to go. However, at the very beginning he had made up his mind that no matter what, the ship would be tension free - Being the senior most and the Fief of the Fiefdom, he would be able to at least ensure this. The next move by this person on taking over was to win over the wardroom by sharing ideas, expectations. At the same time he did not want to waffle by being vague, and long-winded. He also realised that at the beginning of a commission, the ward room invariably consisted of strangers and acquaintances who perhaps were going to be together for the first time. Keeping all this in mind the Captain decided not to speak but circulate a list, titled SOLE - Simple Ordinary Leadership Examples. It read:-

“Simple Ordinary Leadership Examples” are:-

(a) Sincere concern and commitment to the job and men.

(b) Care to ensure that the administration works for the ship.

(c) Behaviour by example - do not do anything which will be misconstrued as un-officer like.

(d) Create an environment:-

(i) Of transparency and openness.

(ii) For learning from each other.

(iii) For participation across the board i.e., involving everybody.

(iv) That ensures true communication from top to bottom, bottom to top and laterally from stem to stern.

(e) Proper feedbacks wherein everybody feels comfortable in transmission of misgivings/ideas/suggestions to make the ship a better place to be, work, and belong to.

(f) Real welfare opportunities for self-improvement - With the Ships Company and officers able to pursue their off-working hours aspirations, hobbies and recreational activities.

4. In another message the Captain clarified to the officers what he meant by "Administration". He wrote that true administration meant:-

(a) Ensuring optimal balance between time and manpower.

(b) Securing everybody on time as a functioning thumb rule.

(c) Planning and granting of leave to all personnel.

(d) Provision of wholesome food.

(e) Creating an atmosphere of pragmatic fairness that must be sensed onboard all the time.

(f) That every morning the officers and men must want to come on board for work.

(g) Anticipating the management strategy required to cater for the various constraints faced by the ship.

(h) Responding to all extraneous agencies with responsible alacrity and also conveying inabilities to meet commitments.

(j) Prevention of mistakes rather than correcting them.

(k) Realising the value of 85/15 rule - i.e., 85% it is the organisation’s fault that leads to a mistake - individually human error being only 15% .

(l) Facilitating/smoothening every day life onboard - attending to mundane things like incoming, outgoing, genform payment, etc. without unnecessary red tape hassles.

(m) Keeping tags on critical personal problems - this normally being only to 1% of the ships population.

5. It was also brought out that it was the Commanding Officer’s core belief that if the family and self were looked after, the Navy would get taken care of. Men recognise the limitations of the system and constraints of the service. They also realise and appreciate the genuine efforts of the administration and express their loyality by committed involvement.

6. The wardroom hoisted all this with customary skepticism and disbelief. One officer was heard to remark – “Guru Yeh Bandha Naya Murga hai - Jab Fleet Commander ayega, isko patha chalega”.( this guy so new, he will soon find out what life is all about ,when the fleet commander comes on board) The Captain called the HODs and suggested that the ship be run on corporate leadership style where all decisions would be taken in consultation with the HODs.

7. The ship was undergoing a short refit of 4 months. Based on previous experience and examination of the work package, the Captain felt that with proper liaison and coordination, the ship could complete the refit atleast a month ahead of schedule. In his call on the Fleet Commander, he gave the latter, assurance that the ship would join the Fleet atleast 20 days ahead of DCD. (dockyard completion date) Nobody else except the ship knew about this. The next month or so the Dockyard and other agencies like NSD(naval store depot), NAD(naval armament depot), WED(weapon eqpt depot) become accustomed to seeing the Captain and HODs(heads of dept) visiting various centres and coordinating repair activities. Closer to the deadline the ships company and the officers were seen in and around the dockyard ensuring collection of equipment and allied machinary parts. Amidst all these the ship still secured mostly on time everyday, except during machinery and equipment trials. The ship had setup a special dockyard liaison team of Reps from all the departments. This not only ensured the supervision of the dockyard work in accordance with agreed milestones but also provided the civilian mates with administrative and catering hospitality - the ordinary ship believed in the adage that a cup of tea at the right time works wonders.

8. In this period, no unnecessary signals emanated from the ship. All points of dissent were invariably resolved through discussion. The Fleet Commander’s counsel was often sought and readily obtained. Now and then a telephone call from him to the ASD (admiral supdt dockyard) ensured continuing momentum.

9. Lo and behold, to the pleasant surprise of the Command and the Fleet, the ship sailed out for machinery trials 28 days ahead of schedule. The first outing was providentially un-eventual - There were many mistakes committed by various people, the Captain being one of them. Prior to this sailing the ship had informally formed a separate observation team that included one or two experienced officers from the Command/Dockyard. The ship’s Commander was appointed as the Chief Chronicler to record the observations. On return to harbour there was a massive hot wash up - the Captain confessed to all his mistakes and what needs to be done from the Bridge point of view. With this opening, the entire atmosphere was transformed to a honest introspection on the ships performance by each department. The Master Chiefs who were present also contributed meaningfully to the ensuing discussions.

10. A couple of days later the ship sailed for weapon and gun trials. The gun system performed poorly. The port shaft had to be locked due to lub oil system failure. In the evening debrief the gunnery/weapons, maintenance and the engineering department owned up to procedural and technical omissions which had contributed to the cause of failures. Nobody was punished. The mistakes were meticulously documented.

11. The ship tackled all defects with resolve and quickness. Subsequently, the ship joined the Fleet 21 days ahead of refit completion date. The ordinary ship had met its first self-imposed deadline. The wardroom sensed that somehow they were off to a reasonable start. The ship continued to secure on time every day, leave was being granted - a feeling of contentment was spreading in the mess decks.

12. Fleet exercises brought to light many chinks in the ships armour. Everyday there was briefing and debriefing. No mistake however small was ignored. Discussions were transparent. It seemed as though that some objectives of SOLE had been met. The disbelieving wardroom was subconsciously getting gelled into a well-knit team. The Fleet Staff were watching the progress of the ship. Customary, healthy, rivalry could be always seen when the other unsuspecting, more flamboyant Captains continuously ribbed this mediocre Commanding Officer of the ordinary ship.

13. A few days passed and the Fleet Commander decided to step on board. The Flag shift brought about its own trepidations. Here again, the ship applied SOLE. The visitors were made to feel at home. There was a desire to learn and an openness in owning up to mistakes. The ordinary ship was slowly maturing as a reliable Fleet Unit. Yet the Captain and HODs knew that there were many leagues to cross before the ship could call itself a warship. Consequently, the practice of meticulous detailed briefing, debriefing and consultation with Fleet Staff, Dockyard was continued with consistent intensity. The wardroom and the Captain had become mutual leadership examples. It was gratifying to note that the circulating galley news talked about the ordinary ship’s damn good ward room setup - If you wanted warmth, peals of laughter and frank discussions you ought to visit this ship. Despite all these activities the ship secured in time and leave programme was maintained with a high degree of fidelity and departmental satisfaction. The Captain and HODs now started the practice of quarterly breakfast meetings with the Master-Chiefs. The ships company clamoured and themselves organised family get-togethers.

14. During the next phase of the Fleet exercise the rest of the flock suddenly saw the ordinary ship doing things in almost double quick time. There was an aura of confidence, a sense of commitment and a degree of anticipation. In six months the ordinary ship had undergone a sea change in its operational and administrative management paradigm. The Captain also sensed that the ship had finally matured into a well-knit fighting unit. On introspection, he realised that the ship had achieved this through :-

(a) A healthy working relationship and comfortable work environment.

(b) Effective communication and a high degree of transparency.

(c) A sense of security and confidence between officers and sailors.

(d) A process of continuous and constant professional interaction through a system of briefing and debriefing.

(e) The institution of true and real welfare schemes primarily focussing on study opportunities, wholesome food, movie arrangements, granting of leave and most importantly securing on time.

(f) Corporate, participative leadership styles of Captain/HODs through a process of delegation, de-centralisation and feedback.

(g) The invaluable guidance of the Fleet Commander, the Fleet and FMU staff.

15. The Ordinary Ship continued to fly the flag and carry on its task with the same degree of intensity and determination. The ships company became fiercely competitive. Of course, mistakes were made, equipment went defective. The ship learnt to weather all its professional and natural storms with confidence, anticipation and commitment - Innovation became the credo - The Captain watched all this with a sense of awe. He could not believe that simple basic values of care, concern and commitment would yield such results. This wave of comradeship, competence gave him new found confidence that one could achieve a lot by being, ordinary, natural whilst evincing care and concern for people with whom one has to work with. He also realised that behavioural values and leadership examples that he had discussed with the wardroom, while obvious, were seldom talked about and mostly ignored. This gave him an idea that he ought to share some other practical leadership values in order to find out whether all these were valid in today’s Navy. He made yet another list and called them the GRAB laws. (Golden Rules And Behaviour). These postulated :-

(i) Avoidance of one-upmanship.

(ii) “Talking with” as opposed to “Talking at”, with peers and subordinate and “Talking to” seniors.

(iii) Making subordinates clearly aware of the working guidelines onboard.

(iv) Understanding the difference between familiarity and awareness.

(v) Considering time to be of high value and ensuring minimum wastage of this precious commodity.

(vi) Evolving correctness in communication, including effective feedback for a comfortable work atmosphere.

(vii) Drawing upon human skill, talent, experience and self-esteem available in abundance onboard - A belief that every man wants to prove himself.

(viii) Continuous lateral interaction to achieve team cohesiveness.

16. Wardroom discussions on the above produced a copious list of additional suggestions. This was discussed with the junior and senior sailors. Their contributions were equally positive and constructive.

17. The ordinary ship carried on and carried on in the same manner. One day there was a sudden requirement for the ship to sail out along with ready duty ship. The Captain had gone out for the weekend. Yet the ordinary ship got ready to sail well ahead of the ready duty ship. The COPO/FOO were treated to the sight of the ship being singled up and engines flashed up, with the Commander ready to cast off. Meanwhile, onboard the ready duty ship, the OOW was seen telephonically arguing with the MT(motor transport pool) pool for transport.

18. Another day during a shop window for a VVIP, the rocket launcher hoists failed. There were only 15 minutes to go. The Captain grabbed the broadcast, explained the problem and cleared the lower decks. It was a sight to see, men forming a human chain to manually load the rockets. The ship fired the rockets and saved itself and the Navy embarrassment. Lessons in human spirit and capacity were being daily learnt.

19. One night in harbour the Duty Petty Officer during middle watch rounds discovered ingress of water in a below deck compartment that normally would never be examined at night. The Duty Watch isolated the problem and averted major flooding and damage. On being asked as to how he had taken rounds, the Petty Officer stated “Saab, is jahaz mein, duty watch, duty watch ka kaam nahin karta”(sir ,in this ship, the duty watch always considers its duty to be a calling) - the Captain and HODs had tears in their eyes. Another lesson in human involvement was absorbed.

20. The Ordinary Ship had achieved this by just being ordinarily caring with genuine concern for each other. This perhaps was the key to its successful commission, of course with the luck factor thrown in.

21. It would make this fable too long if you had to also write about the role of the Fleet Commanders - There were two of them - Different personalities, different styles - One was imperious, yet humane and approachable. The other down-to-earth, humane and highly approachable - In short, pragmatic policies, a ready ear from the top was a major factor in aiding the Fleet and particularly helping the ordinary ship get out of “hot waters” on more than one occasion.

22. It would be a fairy tale if it was written that the ship became the best ship of the Fleet and that it had won most of the Fleet Trophies and also walked away with the regatta cock beating the carrier and other ships by a handsome margin. It was not a fairy tale. It was just true.

23. The wardroom and the Captain split up in accordance with the laws of the Navy, each going on respective career tracks. After few years they met up – friendship beyond the gangway was evident in the spontaneous get-together. It was concluded:

“In the ultimate, life is fair
If you only learn to take care”.

24. The Captain who by then had become older and greyer, thought about the commission and still thinks about the commission. It moved him to write:

"ORDINARY NICETIES"
"Ordinary niceties, simple grace
A warm and friendly face
Alchemy of friendship that cannot be explained
Continues to be fresh yet unchained
And lets you go in your own way
Till you meet again some day
To meet ordinary niceties and simple grace”.
- Barry