Lots of photos of damage:
This is probably an incredibly stupid, tinfoil-hatted question, but after looking at that damage, could the merchant vessel have intended to hit our vessel?
Getting struck at the middle of the ship by a much larger vessel certainly shows the basic physics at work. It clearly was not a glancing blow so the info on collision avoidance and maneuvering is going to be key to the investigation. The damage also appears to be at a seam line between sections as that is where the waterline breach is evident in one photo so design and fabrication are going to be called into question.
There’s no way the captain and the OOD have any career left. However, if the USS Cole could be re-built after that terrorist attack, it seems possible the Fitz could yet continue as a ship of the line.
Thanks for the article with the great photos!
On that page is a plot of the container ship’s route. That sure looks screwy. Funny u-turn and zagging. What’s up with that?