USS Fitzgerald Collision

[Bilge_Rat]

you can also see why the DDs crew may not have spotted the ship until it is too late. Human nature is to look ahead.

[Rockstar]

Originally Posted by Bilge_Rat

you can also see why the DDs crew may not have spotted the ship until it is too late. Human nature is to look ahead.

Unfortunetly human nature is not an acceptable excuse for allowing a 800 foot containership with constant bearing decreasing range to t-bone of all places your starboard side. Its called human error. Many unanswered questions. Right now the press is I think being kind to the Navy and the families of the lost sailors.

[em2nought]

If there was that one guy that went in repeatedly to save his fellow sailors, I think I'd have taken my chances with letting the ship sink before I'd have closed the hatch on him that last time.

[Bilge_Rat]

Originally Posted by Rockstar

Unfortunetly human nature is not an acceptable excuse for allowing a 800 foot containership with constant bearing decreasing range to t-bone of all places your starboard side. Its called human error. Many unanswered questions. Right now the press is I think being kind to the Navy and the families of the lost sailors.

agreed. Not an excuse, but an explanation. I would not be surprised if the investigation finds that the bridge crew on the DD was not really paying attention to what was going on, because it was the dead of night, they were bored, it was routine, etc.

There are at least two recorded instances of U-Boats colliding with each other at night in the middle of the atlantic. In both cases, the cause was the same, lookouts being fixated on the target/action, instead of watching their assigned sector.

ultimately, it comes down to training/discipline. There is a reason why everyone on board has to be trained 100% in their job, know exactly what to do 100% of the time and that officers have to enforce discipline. It is to prevent disasters like this.

Deepwater Horizon is a good example. There are several good articles on what happened. The rig could have easily been saved and the blowout prevented if the crew had followed their standard emergency protocol, instead when the problem occured, most froze or panicked. The movie is a farly accurate portrayal of what happened.