On another site I read-—
“””As USS Fitzgerald approached the point of collision, Bridge and CIC watchstanders were poorly monitoring surface traffic and as a result were unaware of multiple contacts within ten miles of the ship. Shortly after 0100, a crossing situation developed between USS Fitzgerald and three large on-coming merchant vessels, all of which were transmitting on AIS. The merchant ships were traveling in close proximity to each other on similar courses with two overtaking the third. The OOD decided to maintain course and speed, predicting that USS Fitzgerald would cross 1500 yards ahead of what she recognized as a crossing vessel with the right of way, and began to prepare a contact report to inform the CO”””
This is on page 36 of this report-—
http://s3.amazonaws.com/CHINFO/Comprehensive+Review_Final.pdf
Is the reason for there being some obscurity is the fact the OOD on the Fitzgerald is a she?
Face palm! Hadn’t heard that before. Not the Navy I was in.
This report is the first I've seen that actually refers to the sex of the OOD. Normally when writing such reports, great lengths are taken to avoid introducing bias, but this is much more candid.
Purely as an academic exercise in navigation, it would've been interesting to be a fly on the wall, on that bridge. The port wall, of course.