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.
In international waters any ships maneuvers agreed to over the radio have no legal standing if a collision occurs. International rules clearly states what the responsibilities for maneuvering between vessels is (Rules 8, 18 just to name a couple). Radio communications are primarily for acquisition of confidence between 2 vessels. This is not true for US inland rules.