“It is going to be interesting to hear the accounts of both vessels crews....”
********************************************************
Their accounts plus technical records and damage assessments will help them to do a detailed “accident reconstruction”. They’ll be able to synchronize the relative tracks of the two ships (i.e., precisely where each ship was located at each specific point in time) with the recordings of the communications of the two ships at each of those points in time. The US Navy frigate almost certainly has digital records of its (military GPS) location for all times. And I’m sure the civilian vessel has similar records of its locations.
Yes. If there was hostile intent, it will not be concealed. My expectation is that it is not hostile intent. But in this post 9/11 world, nothing is impossible.