USS Fitzgerald
John Steele Gordon explains that the collision of that Philippine cargo ship with the American destroyer USS Fitzgerald may very well have not been an accident.
What happened? It was 1:30 in the morning, to be sure, but the night was clear. Ships not only have watches, they have running lights and radar. They also have transponders so other ships in the area can know exactly where they are. And destroyers, unlike cargo containers, are extremely nimble ships, capable of both high speed (over 30 knots in the Fitzgerald’s case) and quick maneuvering. It’s what they’re designed for.
The container ship was to starboard and so had the right of way. But the officer of the deck and the rest of the watch should have had no trouble whatever keeping clear, even in the very crowded waters near one of the world’s great harbors. If it was just hugely incompetent seamanship, then heads, including the captain’s, will roll.
But was it? It seems almost impossible to imagine such incompetence in a highly trained U.S. Navy crew. (How highly trained, is shown by the fact that they were able to keep the ship afloat after being rammed at considerable speed in the middle of the night.)
And, indeed, there are reports that make it seem that something far more sinister might have been afoot. The AP is reporting that the crash, originally reported as happening at 2:20 AM, after the Japanese Coast Guard was notified by the container ship at 2:25. But it now seems that the event happened at 1:30 AM. The Fitzgerald was fighting for its life, but what kept the container ship from reporting something so serious for nearly an hour?
Further, there is at least one report, by Tom Lifson at the American Thinker, indicating that the container ship had had both its running lights and transponder off. Since that would have severely compromised its own safety, it’s hard to imagine anything but intent to ram the Fitzgerald.
It’s far too early to be sure of anything. But the only two explanations for this would seem to be extraordinary incompetence on the part of the Fitzgerald or evil intent on the part of the container ship. If it’s the latter, then we have a phrase for that: asymmetric warfare.
Old Salt
Even if it was intentional by the crew of the container ship, it would still require neglect or incompetence on the part of the crew of the Fitzgerald.
GoneWithTheWInd
The captain may well be blameless since he was asleep in his quarters. Never the less he will be blamed or share the blame and will quietly become a civilian after the hoopla is over.
It is impossible for the Navy ship to have not seen the freighter. By “see” I mean by visual sight, by radar, Sonar, and transponder. Someone, more than one someone’s screwed up. Some heads will roll, as they should.
As far as the freighter is concerned they are often careless about small craft and the “law of greater displacement” is the law of the ocean. But for them to have not seen the destroyer seems unlikely and more than extremely careless. Something is wrong here as well.
But, to claim it was intentional is a stretch. Normally you simply could not ram a navy ship if you wanted to. Even if you had a more nimble ship it would be difficult to impossible in the open ocean. And for a big freighter to do it the odds are a billion to one. No, this has to be gross negligence on the part of both crews.
Fred Z
There is a state of undeclared war in the world against the west, including, especially, the US. The Pentagon has far too few IQs to know it, but the commander of a front line ship must know it, or be cashiered.
I hope les autres capitaines have been encouraged, and all US ships will will run hot and tight always, and Godspeed to them.
A few enemy ships, even if cargo carriers, on the bottom will likewise encourage those autres, the fuckers, God rot them
JK Brown
The captain is never blameless regardless of whether he was sleeping or not. The question will be, why was he not called to the bridge. The only explanation is that the container ship was not seen by the watch.
If the hit was intentional, then it was incompetent. It looks more like the two ships got close and as the containership slipped astern, the shift from bow cushion compensation was late causing the ship to veer into the Navy ship.
If the hit was intentional and the Destroyer went hard left to avoid, then the stern should have scraped the containership or the containership would have dragged down the side as they turned into the hit.
The question is why the ships got so close alongside each other without the watch calling the captain. Did traffic squeeze them so the close quarters “snuck” up on them?
And my experience was that you stayed away from the Navy, they were horrible drivers and took an in the breach view of the COLREGS. It seemed like any necessary deviation from their plan required a committee meeting so it didn’t happen soon.
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