[Lou L]

I would have hoped that after the attack on the USS Cole that awareness and security against any kind of ramming attacks would be drilled into every US Navy officer ad nauseum.

Completely different situations between the two. A combatant naval vessel of this type should never be "rammed" by a merchant ship in open waters. This was an error in navigation, not a security breach in a hostile harbor.

[Enchante]

I’m well aware of how different the two situations are. But the issue of situational awareness and continual close monitoring of a ship’s surroundings exists always, everywhere. A mere “navigational error” does not begin to describe how a US Navy destroyer ends up in a collision at sea with an enormous cargo ship.