Was he asleep when he chose who to be on watch? Why are you fighting the captain's corner so hard in the face of good reasons for someone in a position of authority to take responsibility for a failure? It's refreshing, frankly - non-military life doesn't usually work that way.

We don't know what specifically caused the accident yet. We do know the Captains career is over regardless of the cause. It's still possible the captain did his job well, and still one of his crew members screwed up.

And comparing a ship's captain to a babysitter? When a babysitter comes to my house I expect them to be attentive for 4 hours and then to go home. I don't expect captains to never sleep during long voyages. There is a whole process around allowing the captain to sleep, and waking them for any possible problem, which obviously didn't occur her.

But by all means some posters can compare his job to babysitting.

Your critique of my analogy reminds me of this web comic: http://imgur.com/a/BqPzT

They don't do a random draw to see who gets to be the captain. You're supposed to be able to operate under extreme conditions, including sleep deprivation, if it's necessary.

Collisions can happen anytime a ship is underway, which in the U.S. Navy can happen for months on end. Navy ships can be refueled and resupplied without having to visit port.

So yes, provision has to be made for a CO to sleep at some point. And the Navy accordingly has provisions for this -- provisions which failed here. The CO will be held accountable for maintaining -- or not -- an environment conducive to safe navigation, but in any event the blame will not attach solely to the CO here.