Just arrived Japan today...news accounts here are more precise and indicate the merchant was overtaking and therefore the give way vessel... doesn’t absolve the co or get back our men, but helps to explain some things.
Thanks for this- the damage did seem to suggest cargo ship approached on parallel course gradually converging from astern , not broadside
Now - was Fitzgerald underway or “ hove to” in anchorage area off sealanes?
https://www.dallasnews.com/news/world/2017/06/17/us-sailors-found-dead-destroyer-collision-freighter-japan
Two of the Fitzgerald’s berthing areas were flooded after the collision, which occurred at 2:30 a.m. local time Saturday, a time when most of the crew would have been asleep.
The Fitzgerald was about 64 miles south of Yokosuka when the Crystal rammed nose-first into the destroyer’s starboard, or right, side. It was a clear night, but the crash occurred in a busy sea lane.
Photographs showed the side of the Fitzgerald caved in about a third of the way back. The Navy said the collision inflicted significant damage to the destroyer above and below the waterline, flooding berths, a machinery area and the radio room.
Under international maritime rules, a vessel is supposed to give way to another one on its starboard side, and the damage indicates that the Crystal was to the Fitzgerald’s starboard, and therefore had the right of way.