I have known navy officers who have been in collisions, and I have been closer than I like to remember to one. It happens, always because of mistakes on both sides (most common), or mistakes on one side with bad intentions on the other. "Zero dark thirty" is a sleepy time for too many people (the Fitz was 02:30 local, and mine was about the same time). For my close call, a container ship running in heavy fog with no lights did two more dumb things in a row. Note: I was in a sub temporarily on the surface, with running lights (for safety) but no radar (for operational reasons), and you could count the no radar decision as a dumb thing except that it was also the right call. We came close enough that I could have thrown a rock and hit him. Sadly, no rocks at hand.
Most of the more than 200 sailors aboard would have been asleep . . . At full strength the Fitzgerald . . . has a crew of 331 sailors.
It was dark, they may have been undermanned and thus tired because maintenance and training still need to be done, and someone on either ship did something stupid, while the other ship reacted too slowly to that mistake. Even though the Captain had only been in command for two months, he was XO of the same ship for two years before that (I do NOT like the idea of going from XO to CO on the same ship, but someone thought it was a good idea). The Navy should and will blame him for the crew's training and thus for whatever errors were made that allowed the collision to occur.
So I gather that you can’t just set it on auto and go, you have to make constant adjustments in real time?
I was on the Roosevelt CV42 when- On 12 January 1977, Roosevelt collided with the Liberian grain freighter Oceanus while transiting the Strait of Messina. Both ships were able to proceed to port under their own power.
What Wikipedia and other publications do Not say-
We were traversing- AT night (like Fitzgerald)
We were in a “controlled” sea lane -so many Large ships-
that there are rules for maneuvering in that strait-
We made it back with 1 slight casualty- the grain ship
Sunk at the pier- the Captain was relieved of command
immediately- (others disciplined)
I never understood why were traversing this narrow strait in the middle of the night-
( as a side note- our bow was Bent- we could not get up
to full speed after that- and the ship shook like crazy)
we use to laugh - and say we were getting up to “Ramming
Speed!”lol- our Chief and 1st lieutenant put an end to
our humor- because of the careers that were ruined