impossible - the DDG was broadsided amidships by the freighter
unless our destroyers have figured out how to run 30 knots sideways it could not have happened.
Have you ever been on a destroyer? Have you been in the CIC (Combat Information Center) room? Have you ever been on the Bridge? Have you ran the ship’s wheel? I have, many years ago.
The line of communication from the CIC, OOD to the helmsman can be messed up with human error. It was this human error that caused the Fitzgerald to be on the collision trajectory in the first place. The freighter was coming in from the USS Fitzgerald’s starboard side. Someone gave the wrong course correction and realized too late they made the wrong course correction. It could have been the helmsman who did not hear or interpret the course correction correctly. It could have been the CIC’s correction coming into the Bridge with incorrect numbers. It could have been the OOD who heard the course correction wrong and yelled out the wrong numbers to the helmsman. When the mistake was realized, things had to be done quick. In this case prior to and during collision, the Fitzgerald was “heeled over” due to a hard avoidance turn to port. There was brief, glancing collision, with the ACX Crystal’s bow deflecting to starboard (as shown in the AIS data) — and the (entire) USS Fitzgerald deflecting (displacing) to port.