'Hobson’s Choice’ is a Navy story; April 26, 1952 the destroyer Hobson (DD-464) was cut in two by the aircraft carrier Wasp (CV-18) on a stormy, dark night in the North Atlantic.
It is the story of command at sea and the Navy tradition that with responsibility goes authority, and with them goes accountability. The burden on the ‘Captain’ in these circumstances is beyond description; in the hour of emergency or peril at sea he can turn to no other man. But his role in training his officers to stand in his place on the bridge as ‘Officer of the Deck’ to make critical decisions in his absence is the ultimate measure of his leadership.
Bad decisions have irreparable consequences. The training and discipline of this experience for young officers is overwhelming and never forgotten. The cruel business of accountability is a ‘tradition of the sea’, older than the traditions of the country itself and wiser in its age than this new custom that men should no longer be held responsible for what they do as well as for what they intend.
To err is not only human; it absolves responsibility. The captain of a ship, like a captain of a state, is given honor and privileges and trust beyond other men. But let him set the wrong course, let him touch ground, let him bring disaster to his ship or to his men, and he must answer for what he has done. No matter what, he cannot escape.
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