Another U.S. destroyer has collided with a merchant ship and the fault of the Fitzgerald collision has been adjudged incompetence on the part of the crew.  I wrote my Fitzgerald assessment back in June but never posted it awaiting the Navy’s judgment.  Here it is now.

Since the USS Fitzgerald and the container ship ACX Crystal collided on June 17 in the Sea of Japan, I have avidly followed the news reports but refrained from making any comment

I intentionally ignored stupid remarks by mainstream tv commentators noting that the ACX Crystal made an “abrupt” or “sharp” u-turn.  A huge 40.000-ton container ship cannot make “abrupt” nor “sharp” turns—they take a long time and a lot of space to turn and can easily be tracked on radar.  The other stupid remark echoed on all the tv networks was “this is a high traffic merchant shipping route.”  Well, yes, it is, but it is not like a metropolitan freeway at rush hour and you can easily track everything on radar since ships are relatively rather show moving.

In matters of destroyers and life at sea, I can claim some expertise.  in the 1960s I was a qualified Officer Of the Deck (OOD) aboard the USS Samuel N. Moore (DD747) a destroyer patrolling the exact same waters where the Fitzgerald and ACX Crystal collided.

The very idea that a slow moving container ship could intentionally ram an American destroyer is beyond ludicrous.  The most probable explanation is extraordinary incompetence on the part of the Fitzgerald crew.

Here is why I believe the Fitzgerald crew screwed up.  Radar today is far more sophisticated and precise than the vacuum tube stuff we had back in the 1960s but we were perfectly capable of tracking any vessels in our vicinity—including fleets of small Japanese fishing boats.  Not only do our Naval ships have radar repeaters on the bridge so the OOD can track traffic in the vicinity, every American combat ship has a Combat Information Center (CIC) below decks, where several skilled radarmen constantly monitor the radar screens and advise the bridge (OOD) of any potential collision threats.

In addition, and this has been mentioned on tv by naval experts including an admiral, the fact that the Fitzgerald got rammed on the starboard (right) side indicates it violated the “rules of the road” which are international rules all ships must follow to avoid collisions.  The rules state that if ships are crossing at or near a 90 degree angle, the ship with the other to starboard must change course to avoid collision.  That means, if the Fitzgerald had the ACX Crystal to starboard, which it must have since it got hit on its starboard side, it should have altered course to pass behind the container ship to avoid a collision.

Now my final point is one of those conventional wisdom things that got drummed into the heads of us officers learning to be OODs.  I will never forget my mentor telling me, “Always, always give merchant vessels a very wide berth.  Most of time there is no one on the bridge, especially at night, and the ship is set on the ‘iron mike’( which is essentially a merchant ship’s auto pilot that just sets course and speed).”

The ACX Crystal had a crew of only 20 men so it is highly likely the ship had no one on the bridge and the whole crew was sleeping at the time of the collision.