The only thing I can say about this is that win, lose, or draw, in about 5 seconds that destroyer has the power to slam into reverse and practically leave its bow anchors behind should it see the need.
The cargo ship was probably lit up on their detectors, well, like a big effin ship on the water.
There was no "didn't see it coming"
Thinking on this for a while, the possibility that the crew thought they could shoot across the bow with nary a scratch is the most probable explanation, simply misjudged the closing speed, almost made it.
“that destroyer has the power to slam into reverse and practically leave its bow anchors behind”
Yep - the video from the source is pretty impressive:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Vih4tGmqjs