Something is fishy about USS Fitzgerald story we are getting from the media

americanthinker.com ^ | Thomas Lifson

[onedoug]

Enemy islamism until demonstrated otherwise.

[WildHighlander57]

Also reported on heavy.com is the U-turn the cargo ship made:

http://heavy.com/news/2017/06/acx-crystal-uss-fitzgerald-tracking-owner-flag-schedule-container-ship-photo/

[bigdaddy45]

Facts? pffft. Since when have we cared about facts?

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

It is apparent from the damage photos that the collision was at an oblique angle, and both ships were on similar heading at the time of collision, sort of like a collision on a highway when making a lane change. Not like a head on or t-bone collision.

I suspect negligence on the bridge of the Fitzgerald because there was apparently no collision horn sounded. It should have been sounded minutes before the collision and at a minimum the captain should have been on the bridge. I take negligence (or far less likely, malice) on the part of the commercial vessel for granted.

[Texas Eagle]

The last place I expect to get accurate information about this is from The Fake News Media.

There has to be more to this story.

[proust]

I guess it’s easier to believe they saw it coming right towards them on radar and let it happen.

[IronJack]

Whoever it was, he just became Captain Crunch.

[RoosterRedux]

It has been reported that Russia has developed a radar jamming technology capable of blinding a ship.

Article.

[Drew68]

I strongly question that this “mother” received email from her son. Any time there is an incident like this, the ship goes into what they call “River City” and all email/internet access is immediately secured to all but only the highest-ranking sailors (generally the “Triad” of CO, XO and CMC).

[PapaBear3625]

The ship is registered in the Philippines. We do not know who the owner is. The container ship neither had its running lights or transponder on.

I have lots of problems with this account. Yes, civilian ship radars work with transponders. They also register objects without transponders.

A MILITARY ship's radar necessarily works in an environment where hostile ships do not helpfully have transponders on. As a matter of fact, I would HOPE that the ship's sensor software would flag a ship with transponder off as "POTENTIAL HOSTILE"!

[RoosterRedux]

See post 28.

[freedomjusticeruleoflaw]

Must be conspiracy day. My first thought after the initial reporting: How are our ships supposed to defend against modern warships if a freighter can just accidentally torpedo a destroyer?

[anton]

totaally fishy.

That destroyer will have equipment to detect if you tossed a Popsicle stick in the water in front of it.

[ROCKLOBSTER]

A MILITARY ship's radar necessarily works in an environment where hostile ships do not helpfully have transponders on. As a matter of fact, I would HOPE that the ship's sensor software would flag a ship with transponder off as "POTENTIAL HOSTILE"!

Was the captain "smoking a rope"?

[mewzilla]

Unless it had help.

[csvset]

Hard to envision how it wound up happening. How in the hell...

Open ocean, not some crowded port or crappy weather.

I did see The USS Eisenhower, returning to Norfolk, on 29 August 1988, she collided with an anchored Spanish coal ship while entering the harbor to dock at Norfolk Naval Station when wind and currents pushed the carrier off course, although damage was minor to both ships.

[sharkhawk]

There are pictures in other threads showing the cargo ships track. How would that track be available if the transponder was off?

[wrench]

Nothing gets a boat driver’s attention more than radar reporting a CBDR target.

They get apoplectic over it. Unless the DD’s radar was down, something was up with the container ship.

[Zakeet]

[GOPJ]

Identifying ship weaknesses? A dry run?