(Yes, this is a real book.)
For this reason I am 99.9% confident the USS Fitzgerald will be found at fault… and so will the ACX Crystal.
Kinda long but informative article.
Wonder if the public will ever learn who was the officer on the deck when the accident occurred. It may tell the American people much about their “new” Navy.
There was a retired Navy guy on the radio yesterday who said that this accident was probably caused by a Junior Captain who was aware of the Tanker and that they were on a collision course and decided that rather than turn to avoid, he felt if he held course he could get past the tanker like a car thinking he could beat a train to the crossing.
How could such a collision take place in the 21st century, an age of sophisticated radar, satellite intelligence, global positioning systems, etc.?
I want to know why this tanker whipped a nearly 180 degree course change and came at them. This does not excuse the destroyer from fault though.
An unnecessarily long-winded explanation. Simply put, the smaller, more maneuverable vessel is responsible for avoiding a collision with a larger, less maneuverable vessel in open waters. Basic boating rule.
Ping
Thanks for posting. It was very informative & helpful for us non-sailers.
I think it was intentional. The cargo ship made several major course changes that ships like that just don’t do.
(Yes, this is a real book.)
Very interesting.
It’s like at Indy and some dumbass driver hits the pace car.
In the case of the Amtrak derailment in Philadelphia, the operator, because they were homosexual, was let off the hook for intentionally accelerating around one of the sharpest curves on the entire railway. Clearly some wacko, sick minded queer urge to act outrageous.
Likely they are in the same circumstance here — who was driving the boat? Probably not a straight white male.
Who was at the helm?
The only thing I can say about this is that win, lose, or draw, in about 5 seconds that destroyer has the power to slam into reverse and practically leave its bow anchors behind should it see the need.
First thing one has to determine is if the captain was up on all the gender rules on whether his people were gender specific!!!
I do not disagree with gcaptain’s conclusion, that Fitzgerald was probably at fault for the collision. But he is dead wrong on a couple of points in his article. Bridge to Bridge radio does not route through radio central. The only person on a naval vessel that uses it is the Captain, the OOD or JOOD. No junior radioman answers then relays to radio watch supervisor to pass to the bridge. We use the standard phraseology of mariners to communicate with other ships. “will pass you port to port, or am coming starboard to course 250 (a true compass bearing not a relative bearing.) We do give orders to our helm using right standard rudder or Left full rudder. We do not use those terms on the Bridge to Bridge radio. gcaptain makes it sound as if the captain of a merchant ship does everything on the bridge. At the time of collision, with the destroyer, the 3rd mate was most probably the only licensed officer on the Crystal’s bridge. The 3rd mate (most junior licensed officer on the ship) traditionally stands the midwatch. It was on this watch that the collision occurred. the Crystal’s captain was probably getting some shut eye before they entered the traffic separation lanes leading to Tokyo Bay. He would have been on the Bridge for that.
Several articles I read said that the Fitzgerald was not under way at the time it was struck.
And it sure looks that way to me. The impact photos seem to show a single impact with no scraping as you would expect if the Fitz had been under way.
So if the Fitz was stationkeeping (sea anchors?) at 2am, how long would it take to get the ship moving with no warning?
Also other reports seem to say that the Captain was on the bridge, and that his chair was crushed which is why he was injured and evacuated.
???
Still don’t understand how with sophisticated radar and navigation technology presumably on Navy ships and a plodding blocks long container ship that there wouldn’t have been at least a collision warning if not time to take some evasive action. How could our Navy ships survive in combat if they can’t dodge a huge slow moving container ship?
It’s like blaming a cow for running into your cheetah. Stupid. DDG is at fault. Big dent in the green side of the boat.
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This is pure bullshit!
The Fitzgerald was deliberately attacked; the radar tracking proves it beyond a shadow of doubt.
We don’t need smoke screen articles like this; if we did, we would be democrats.
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