Posted on 06/23/2017 9:44:27 AM PDT by Mariner
MapQuest for Freighters (tm).
"Don't leave port without it"
Tell that to the crew of the USS Donald Cook in the black sea where the russians hit them with the Khibiny device.
It is plausible. There are weapons that can be effective against hardened emp systems.
It’s the fishing boats in the Wan that are USUALLY the greatest hazard.
Why are you letting the CO off the hook? It wasn’t just the bridge watch that screwed up.
“There are weapons that can be effective against hardened emp systems.”
That report was from the Russian equivalent of the National Inquirer.
It was never reported by US, or mainstream Russian media.
And when ask, the USN Spokesman laughed...before he denied any such incident occurred.
freighters on autopilot, not a big deal..quite common
that’s what autopilot is for
but the US ship is supposed to have men on watch, plus all kinds of fancy sophisticated detection gear
what was the problem on the US ship that it just “sat there” and let itself get hit? even if the entire crew was asleep, the detection equipment is still supposed to be ‘on duty!” and also there are sirens onboard to wake slumbering watchmen up
If the photographic evidence on the internet is reliable, your analysis is spot on. The Fitz is probably lucky that the Crystal was not fully laden else it would have been worse (some internet pictures show a fair amount of ‘red’ hull).
And for sure the conjecture by some here that the Fitz was ‘center punched’ (T-boned?) by Crystal is ridiculous. If that had happened, the Fitz would probably sank within minutes and the forensics going on now would be being conducted by divers.
A fair number of sailors from the Fitz will soon be in jail, possibly the Captain also. There is no way this is not the fault of the Fitz.
Finally, the 180 degree turn by the Crystal was it returning to the collision site probably to see if they needed to render aid. Seeing that they were not needed, they turned again and proceeded to port in Japan.
Thanks, Obama.
The fishing boats are a big problem at night. Many don’t paint on radar and none of them seem overly concerned about the movement of ships around them. The captain was not on the bridge at the time of collision. Why that was, will be examined by the Board investigating the collision and possibly the Courts Martial board. I am not letting the Captain off the hook, did the bridge watch carry out his standing and night orders as they are required to do. My guess is that the bridge watch was negligent in standing their watch. That is the Captains’ responsibility, He qualified them for the watch. These facts will also be part of the collision investigation and possible courts marshal.
Picture of the container ship shows damage aft of bow and on port side. The bow is intact.
That's a glancing blow.
This link is the results on a search for images of the ACX Crystal.
https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=acx+crystal+photos&FORM=HDRSC2
The good news is, you all get a 15-minute break. The bad news is, the Captain wants to water-ski...
I manned the wheel myself and it is a challenge. It takes time to get the ship on the compass reading you are told to steer to. It is customary to repeat the course command when you get it. That way the OOD knows you got the correct heading. When you get to the target compass course, you slow the turn to avoid overshooting it. Many times you get a new course before you reach that target course. When you are told to “Turn right to 270,” you better turn right even though you could get to 270 faster by turning left.
It would be wild if the entire cause of the collision was the helm light went out and no one had a working flashlight.
The Captain had just taken command a month or so previous to the accident. There is noway he can evaluate staff fitness in such short order.
“That ship, the USS Cole, was tied up alongside the pier.”
True, the task would have been much more difficult at 2:30 AM in a heavy fog while the target was underway.
As others have commented, it's not unusual for the container ship to be on auto-pilot, but just like commercial aircraft that use auto-pilot frequently, the cockpit is still manned in the even of an emergency. It's not like this was a transit from the West Coast to Hawaii; these were highly-traveled shipping lanes.
“””The deadly collision between a U.S. destroyer and a container ship June 17 took place while the freighter was on autopilot, according to Navy officials.”””
‘According to Navy officials’ it seems to know more about the ACX CRystal than they know about the USS Fitzgerald.
The instant he says “I relieve you” at the change of command ceremony, the new Captain assumes 100 per cent responsibility for everything and everyone on that ship. It is his responsibility to qualify the personnel that will handle the ship during their watch. By definition, if they are deficient in carrying out their duties, the Captain is deficient in carrying out his responsibility. That is how our Navy operates. These issues of watch qualification will be examined during the investigation and will be discussed at the Courts Martial if one should occur.
and who commanded the Frank Evans?
even an emp attack does not explain why none of the Navy personal who were supposed to be the look outs let this happen...
Those turns happened after the collision. The 90 degree turn happened immediately after the collision.
please....people are just looking for answers..
I can understand one Navy guy missing the freighter, but according to experts here on FR, there should have been several people on the bridge plus sailors stationed to act as watchers...
how can all systems fail at one time?....
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