There are very few possibilities here:
The freighter colluded with the Klingons and had an operational cloaking device.
The Navy now requires their lookouts to be blind in one eye and unable to see out the other.
The idea of one poster that the freighter lured the destroyer in (promises of naked women?) and then “punched it” is at least creative. I don’t advise that as a legal defense at the courts-martial.
Seriously folks, the destroyer was in the wrong, period. No matter what the condition of any electronics, radar, GPS, or whatever, the sailors on lookout and the bridge watch should easily have seen this freighter, even at night. There was no reported fog.
Any questions? If so, read: The International Regulations for Preventing Collisions but is better know by its acronym “COLREGs”.
The destroyer has AN/SPY-1 three dimensional RADAR, variable pulse width surface RADAR, AIS transceivers and a hull mounted sonar array tied into an Electronic Warfare Suite capable of tracking objects of small size moving at a high speed in real time.
The OOD has some ‘splaining to do.
“The freighter colluded with the Klingons and had an operational cloaking device.”
I guess we’ll just have to go with that one until proven otherwise.
At the General Courts Martial where at least half a dozen will be rightfully convicted of manslaughter. And destruction of government property, and dereliction of duty, and criminal negligence...and whatever else they come up with.
These folks should not be worried about their careers though. They should be worried about their freedom for the next 25 years.