Navy changes sleep policy for its surface fleet
This was done in response to the two major collisions involving guided missile cruisers.
Another change is that all crew on air craft carriers will get 8 hours of sleep in any 24 hour period, not just the air wing.The Navy's surface fleet has moved to a circadian rhythm-based schedule, in which sailors work, eat and sleep at about the same time daily. Lt. Bobby Fedele, the plans and tactics officer aboard the Norfolk-based USS Winston Churchill oversaw part of the rollout of the new policy during the guided missile destroyer's deployment from April through earlier this month. In addition to ensuring that sailors got time to rest, it set a regular routine rather than constantly having to shift sleep schedules, he said.
It also helped with planning and establishing patterns. Sailors who were used to standing watch at a set time daily could become accustomed to what was typical or what was not, Fedele said, like fighter jets leaving a military base at a set time.
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