Appointments and Command History
His first appointment was to GNS Afadzato as First Lieutenant and Second-in-Command. The ship immediately sailed for refit in Gibraltar in the company of GNS Yogaga. Both vessels were inshore minesweepers and the passage was epoch-breaking, eventful, and uncomfortable. In the end however both Officers and Men discovered their ‘sea legs’ and developed indomitable confidence to face challenges at sea.
While the vessels were refitting in Gibraltar, Dzang was appointed to GNS Achimota for the passage from Southampton to Ghana, with secondary duties as the Navigational Officer. After docking in Tema, Ghana, Dzang was flown back to Gibraltar to rejoin GNS Afadzato for the return passage to Ghana after the refit. Apart from the anxiety of the crew to return home to their loved ones and friends, the passage itself was smooth and uneventful. A few months after the vessels’ return to Ghana, Dzang was promoted Lieutenant and given Command of GNS Afadzato in 1965.
Soon after assuming Command, the coup d‘état of February 1966 took place. By the terms and conditions of service of the expatriate British Joint Services Training Team (BJSTT), no British personnel were to be involved in duties associated with the coup in Ghana. It was therefore the added responsibility of ships commanded by Ghanaian naval officers to undertake all patrol duties at sea and protect the territorial sovereignty of Ghana. When the dust settled, Dzang was appointed the Training Officer at the Takoradi Naval Base in 1967. In 1968, he was given additional duties as the Base Administrative Officer. With the BJSTT not in full control because of the Military Government, the Navy in particular was in dire shortage of experienced senior personnel. The substantive Chief of Naval Staff (CNS) and Navy Commander, Rear Admiral David Hanson, had also been relieved of his duties and appointed Defence Advisor to the High Commission in London. Air Marshall M.A. Otu, the Chief of Air Staff, was appointed Acting Chief of Naval Staff as well, while Commodore Krishnan of the Indian Navy, was commissioned to review the Ghana Navy. With a Ghanaian-Indian supporting staff, Krishnan’s mandate included assessing the personnel situation in order to “Ghanaianise” the top jobs and afford senior Ghanaian Officers the opportunity to perform these top administrative jobs. He was also to review the Navy fleet and recommend appropriate vessels for acquisition. The government accepted most of his recommendations and seven of the most senior Executive Officers were selected for these senior appointments ashore and at sea in rotation, so that a suitable candidate would emerge for appointment as Chief of Naval Staff and Navy Commander.
Read more about this topic: Chemogoh Kevin Dzang
Famous quotes containing the words appointments, command and/or history:
“All appointments hurt. Five friends are made cold or hostile for every appointment; no new friends are made. All patronage is perilous to men of real ability or merit. It aids only those who lack other claims to public support.”
—Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822–1893)
“An actor must communicate his author’s given message—comedy, tragedy, serio- comedy; then comes his unique moment, as he is confronted by the looked-for, yet at times unexpected, reaction of the audience. This split second is his; he is in command of his medium; the effect vanishes into thin air; but that moment has a power all its own and, like power in any form, is stimulating and alluring.”
—Eleanor Robson Belmont (1878–1979)
“To history therefore I must refer for answer, in which it would be an unhappy passage indeed, which should shew by what fatal indulgence of subordinate views and passions, a contest for an atom had defeated well founded prospects of giving liberty to half the globe.”
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)