I pretty much agree with you. Though, the Crystal’s watch officer, had he been more attentive to his duties, may have been able to mitigate or even prevent the collision. Their responsibility is very small in this incident. The vast majority of the responsibility for the collision lies with the Fitzgerald’s Bridge and Combat watch officers. There actions got men killed and severely damaged a U.S. war ship.
The Crystal just should have come to full stop as soon as they realized the Fitzgerald was playing games with them. I think the Fitzgerald may have been trying to stop her and board her. Have you seen the paths and course changes on the map yet?
It was far too obvious what happened because of all the zig zagging going on from both. The fitzgerald was toying with the crystal, they were playing Chicken and blocking it.
Now whether the watch on the Crystal was doing the course changing, or the collision prevention system was at the helm and control I don’t know for sure, but the vessel tried to avoid the Fitzgerald several times.
I actually might still have the map showing this. I’ll look and see if I still have it. I got it from an inside source at the time.
“Though, the Crystal’s watch officer, had he been more attentive to his duties”
Had SHE been more attentive to her duties. SHE was convicted at courts martial.
Agreed. I think ACS made this deal to put it to bed.