re: Apparently the US Navy has forgot how to sail

They're too busy pushing the PC/SJW envelope to actually teach Navy stuff. I can't think of the last time I've been to a basic firefighting or damage control school, which used to be biennial requirements.

I was a SWO from 2010-2014, switched to another community, just did a tour in shite DC and am in Norfolk now getting ready to go to AFRICOM. If it weren't for my first CO being a crusty, old-school elite shipdriver who trained us hard and put the fear of God into us to call/ask him whenever we were uncertain or in a situation and to be professionals, I might have turned out to be a shitbag too. I could explain what is wrong with OODs, the Navy fighting force in general but it would take a 60+ page thesis to do so. Many factors have already been stated here but we are approaching the dangerous culmination of all hitting critical levels at once.

-Soft leadership. New generation at the top of warfighting units does not have what the last one did. Many can't make the hard decisions unless it's some zero tolerance NJP bullshite. When you have ship group Commodores asking the Strike Group 1* Admiral permission ON CHAT to fire warning shots at the Iranians during a Straight of Hormuz transit when they are 200 YARDS away and the JAG is standing on the bridge.. Toughness and enforcing strict standards on officers is becoming less and less common. Most people are getting pins doing and knowing less. Ask anyone who got out at the beginning /middle of the last administration and they'll tell you why and that they're glad they're not around now.
-Virtual navigation (VMS reliance) and CNO-mandated simulators across all communities. Specifically OODs are losing critical opportunities to learn how to navigate under pressure a simulator doesn't induce, to spot the visual cues and take bearings, learn to 'feel' and master how your ship handles, etc. Automated CPA calculators on radars and alarms set instead of binos and moboards are false sense of security when a young millennial has the deck. Also, way too much time is spent on PowerPoint beautification for missions or operations instead of focusing on 'is this person/watch section briefing really know what tf they're doing?'
-Training has declined. From introduction of computer-based click-throughs to lower budgets for schools. People don't know what they need to when shite hits the fan, in extremis, because it's not drilled into them. A 'fast cruise' is not good enough. So they either get scared to look bad when they're OOD and/or panic and hope a situation resolves itself. Other country Navys have to nearly memorize the rules of the road whereas some of ours couldn't tell you the light configuration for a pilot vessel or tell you what a dracone is. In-port, fewer officers are taking initiative to learn more about the components and systems on ships so they have a thorough understanding of what they are in control of. Most are trying to find a phone signal just inside the skin of the ship, on social media seeing civilians in places like Jacksonville/San Diego having fun and want to just get to liberty, listening to some quarterly SAPR GMT on duty or an idiot CDO profess his personal thoughts on cleanliness that will make the CO/XO happy, etc.
-SWO isn't sexy. Everyone wants to be or Lat Transfer to be a pilot, SEAL, EOD or else something that will translate to a viable income occupation in the private sector. Hot women and chasers aren't gunning for shipdrivers. The best officers realize they can get out early and make more money without getting shite on nonstop (shite on for things like zone inspections, microscopic admin errors, etc) or standing Saturday duty writing an OPREP3 SITREP to perfection. That leaves us with picking from mediocore.
-Environmental bullshite. Ships sit in comfy OPBOXes at night way away from simple, two-direction shipping lanes (aka practice) so they can go 3kts to burn less fuel, because fuel consumption is reported up the CoC and praise is heaped on those that use less. There are tons of other examples.
-Commissioning training pipelines are getting watered down and soft. In my experience, those that came from OCS to the ships were the biggest hit or misses.
-Funding cuts. From less training and time at sea to lower manning levels at the middle-enlisted ranks to too much being spent on the bureaucratic DoD FedGov employees who cannot be fired. After my my last tour in DC, that last factor cannot be overstated. There is so much money being stripped from the tip of the spear units to fund the worst of the GS/SES. The only community that is never underfunded is SPECWAR.
-Admin from collateral duties and JAG paperwork. The seven the CNO eliminated last year are not the big burden culprits. An Ensign on a small boy probably has 2 collateral duties that consume hours and hours of time due to paperwork (trying to figure out that job) that of which will get his/her arse chewed if not done right. Public Affairs Officer (we have a fricking community for this), appointed as Investigation Officers into the most minor shite, Mishap Review Board members, command sponsor coordinator, administrative security manager. It can wear some out and affect watchstanding. Also, the MILPERSMAN is so big now and any issue with a troop has a long process full of paperwork to handle it IAW whatever latest bullshite the JAGs have come up with. Sailors and troops are wasting time too doing things like spending a whole day to get their department mustered in NFAAS for a non-event. The Navy has so many damned websites for specific functions that many manhours are lost trying to get one's output to sync or matchup with another so they can hit a mandatory check in the box from some good idea fairy policy makers wet dream. It boggles my mind why they don't suck it up financially and create a one-stop shop like Marine Online.
-Shipyards are producing lower quality ships out of the gate. Military oversight has drastically decreased at shipyards and it is showing during sea trials and initial deployments. Ships are out there, some deployed, with 3-4 running CASREPs that can take A YEAR to solve, sometimes by cannibalizing the part or equipment from another ship lower on the readiness totem pole. The automated systems on new platforms are reducing manning per vessel leading to an intensification of the aforementioned admin burden. The Navy wants to reduce platforms to consolidate more missions into a single ship but creates more problems than solve with every attempt, e.g. the not -well-thought-out LCS that we are still buying two different models of.

I could go on and on in very specific depth and I didn't even hit on the SJW Pentagon-forced shite, heritage months or the millennial sailor, it's in every community afloat and ashore. But TOUGHNESS and allowing Commanding Officers to identify weaknesses, cut the bullshite, focus on REAL readiness and developing a real Fight Tonight proficiency without severe micromanagement instead of focusing deeply on a zero-defect Sailor is what is needed. Unfortunately, I only see it getting worse for now.

No tl;dr. I get so frustrated with this, it's been my life since 17, that I typed all of the above on my phone.