[cherry]

could it be that the ships were parallel, staying apart, and suddenly the cargo ship made a turn towards the destroyer, and the destroyer had to speed up immediately...I've heard reports that they were at a full stop to let the cargo ship go on...

how fast can a destroyer start its engines and move quickly out of the way?..

I'm just looking for reasons not to blame our US NAVY..

[Bull Snipe]

I would like to think that the Merchie was at fault. I have stood copious hours of Bridge watch,as an OOD, in out Navy. I cannot come up with any set of circumstances that would absolve the Bridge watch, that night, of responsibility for the collision. Sad to say, errors in judgment on the part of the Bridge watch are most likely the reason for this event. Until the Navy investigation is completed, all we have is speculation as to those events that led to the collision.

[xone]

I'm just looking for reasons not to blame our US NAVY..

Unfortunately, there aren't any.