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.
I’ve done all that you stated except man the wheel, which is normally a low-level enlisted man. He just does what he is told.
Your analysis is correct.
The crew of the Fitz screwed the pooch, big time.
And many of them face General Courts Martial for Manslaughter. With almost certain conviction.
If the photographic evidence on the internet is reliable, your analysis is spot on. The Fitz is probably lucky that the Crystal was not fully laden else it would have been worse (some internet pictures show a fair amount of ‘red’ hull).
And for sure the conjecture by some here that the Fitz was ‘center punched’ (T-boned?) by Crystal is ridiculous. If that had happened, the Fitz would probably sank within minutes and the forensics going on now would be being conducted by divers.
A fair number of sailors from the Fitz will soon be in jail, possibly the Captain also. There is no way this is not the fault of the Fitz.
Finally, the 180 degree turn by the Crystal was it returning to the collision site probably to see if they needed to render aid. Seeing that they were not needed, they turned again and proceeded to port in Japan.
Thanks, Obama.