OT: U.S. Navy Destroyer Collides With Merchant Vessel Off Coast Of Japan

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: Yaab

Maybe the ship's captain got radicalised? you never know.

It's not likely, but it struck me that the North Koreans might just have bribed that merchie captain.

[wdolson]

I'm sure we'll learn more in the coming weeks. My guess is a mix of human error and possibly equipment failure. Maybe the destroyer had a green ensign standing his or her first watch alone on the bridge (it was the middle of the night) and called out the wrong directions when things got critical. The freighter may have had an equipment failure that had it running blind.

Occam's Razor is usually the best explanation for these things. Actually finding a US destroyer in the middle of the ocean, then managing to run it down with a much slower and less maneuverable ship is a pretty unlikely scenario. If a crazed merchant captain was trying to ram another ship, he or she would either do it in port with a stationary warship, or it would likely go down as a close call on the high seas and the Japanese coast guard would be opening an investigation that could result in the captain losing their license for no gain.

There are lots of ways to damage US warships if somebody really wanted to. Doing it with a merchant ship at sea is one of the least effective unless you have a Q ship.

Bill

[crsutton]

ORIGINAL: wdolson

I'm sure we'll learn more in the coming weeks. My guess is a mix of human error and possibly equipment failure. Maybe the destroyer had a green ensign standing his or her first watch alone on the bridge (it was the middle of the night) and called out the wrong directions when things got critical. The freighter may have had an equipment failure that had it running blind.

Occam's Razor is usually the best explanation for these things. Actually finding a US destroyer in the middle of the ocean, then managing to run it down with a much slower and less maneuverable ship is a pretty unlikely scenario. If a crazed merchant captain was trying to ram another ship, he or she would either do it in port with a stationary warship, or it would likely go down as a close call on the high seas and the Japanese coast guard would be opening an investigation that could result in the captain losing their license for no gain.

There are lots of ways to damage US warships if somebody really wanted to. Doing it with a merchant ship at sea is one of the least effective unless you have a Q ship.

Bill

A few comments on the accident.

The extent of the damage is due to the freighter having a bulbous bow. You can't see the extensive damage done to the DD below the water line.

A U turn for a slow large freighter might be unusual but can't be called radical. Slow large ships really can't make a radical turn.

U turn or not, the positioning of the ships and the area of the collision suggests that the freighter had the right of way.

The investigation has now determined that the U turn happened after the collision-probably in an attempt to assist after the fact.

In some ways, Cronin said, it didn’t matter who had the right of way in this case. “In my mind, our destroyer is a more capable, agile ship, so regardless of who has right of way, our ship should be able to take evasive action,” he said.

A modern DD has a bridge watch of multiple men while a cargo ship will have two or three-if the captain is present. Even if the cargo ship is found to be at fault, (which I doubt) the careers of the captain of the DD and every officer on watch at the time are pretty much in the toilet. The Navy will find no excuse for a highly maneuverable warship to not recognize and avoid the danger of an immediate collision by a slower and less maneuverable ship.

The only exception would be major equipment failure. That happens at sea more than we would like to think.

[wolfclan]

From news reports, it seems the CO was in his sea cabin, which indicates to me that the OOD didn't think there was a potential problem. The weather was good, so one would think CIC would have had good radar and the bridge a good visual of the navigation lights. However, there are merchants, who are not rigorous about their lighting, which can cause confusion. It seems that the watch just lost track of that particular contact in a busy shipping lane. I know it has happened to me, but other members of the watch were alert.

[crsutton]

ORIGINAL: wolfclan

From news reports, it seems the CO was in his sea cabin, which indicates to me that the OOD didn't think there was a potential problem. The weather was good, so one would think CIC would have had good radar and the bridge a good visual of the navigation lights. However, there are merchants, who are not rigorous about their lighting, which can cause confusion. It seems that the watch just lost track of that particular contact in a busy shipping lane. I know it has happened to me, but other members of the watch were alert.

Yep, probably a series of human failures and false assumption. But even though the captain was not present, the captain is always responsible. That is the way its been and always was..Even, the captain of the freighter probably bears some responsibility. Will just have to wait for the investigation to run it's course. Sad, but big ships on the water are always dangerous things.

[Jorge_Stanbury]

Next time they should pay attention to Captain's Trimmer advice:

[geofflambert]

There was a time, I was just fishin' for sunfish, close kin of blue gills but not as pretty, I was standin' up in my canoe when this bass boat ran into me. I had no idea that anything like this could happen in the State of Missourah, but here it did and I was hornswaggled to say the least. All my bait was knocked over the side and swam away. I don't think most states allow this sort of thing and I'm amazed that Missourah does, but, well, there you have it.

[Lecivius]

ORIGINAL: geofflambert

There was a time, I was just fishin' for sunfish, close kin of blue gills but not as pretty, I was standin' up in my canoe when this bass boat ran into me. I had no idea that anything like this could happen in the State of Missourah, but here it did and I was hornswaggled to say the least. All my bait was knocked over the side and swam away. I don't think most states allow this sort of thing and I'm amazed that Missourah does, but, well, there you have it.

The offender had a bass boat. He had the right of way [;)]

[BBfanboy]

ORIGINAL: Lecivius

ORIGINAL: geofflambert

There was a time, I was just fishin' for sunfish, close kin of blue gills but not as pretty, I was standin' up in my canoe when this bass boat ran into me. I had no idea that anything like this could happen in the State of Missourah, but here it did and I was hornswaggled to say the least. All my bait was knocked over the side and swam away. I don't think most states allow this sort of thing and I'm amazed that Missourah does, but, well, there you have it.

The offender had a bass boat. He had the right of way [;)]

Not to mention the 12 empty beer cans ...

[tocaff]

I'll bet the boat hit your Gorn vessel was skippered by a bass named Todd, who you correctly called a stupid bass Todd.

Sad to condemn a skipper who was in his cabin and not summoned to the bridge. The bridge watch are well and truly screwed.

[Alpha77]

These DDGs have:

a) Eyeball MK1 severall
b) Surface radar active
c) Surface radar passive (or pulsing)
d) ECM/ESM
e) Nav radar
f) Sonar both, but the passive one should also be able to pick up the sound of a bigger cargo ship not only subs

EDIT: Chickenboy is correct, from this accident here I cannot claim that all modern warships suck, so I deleted it.

But I bet they sweep this under the rug, or perhaps put the blame on the cargo ship, as it is from the Phillipines too. There was some kind of disagreement between the US and them I believe. But lets wait, what comes out. Not surprised if nothing at all happens to the captn or officers of the DDG.

[Chickenboy]

Very unfortunate incident. But that's what happens when you have naval forces at sea. We *could* eliminate the vast majority of such incidents / accidents by...you know...not having an effective and widely distributed Navy. "Practice like you want to fight".

There will be some accidents from time to time through flaws in human judgement. Our WW2 vessels are better? Puhlease...[8|]

[wdolson]

ORIGINAL: Jorge_Stanbury

Next time they should pay attention to Captain's Trimmer advice:

What is it with this book? I looked it up just for the heck of it and the used book prices are astronomical.

Bill

[morganbj]

ORIGINAL: Jorge_Stanbury

Next time they should pay attention to Captain's Trimmer advice:

I avoided all large ships when I was in the service.

I was in the Army.

[Jorge_Stanbury]

ORIGINAL: wdolson

What is it with this book? I looked it up just for the heck of it and the used book prices are astronomical.

Bill

My best guess is that price went up because of it's sudden "fame". This after being included in an internet list of the worst book covers of all time
http://www.boredpanda.com/funny-book-titles-covers/
Probably very few copies were printed, and therefore a simple mater of low supply and high demand

You can see some of these titles are hilarious, but the key point with "How to avoid..." was that it was complete unintended hilarity, this is apparently a serious book written by a merchant captain that was tired of all these small crafts and yachts violating each and every "traffic" patterns and risking collision with big freighters

[Jorge_Stanbury]

Amazon reviews about this book are amazing too:


3.0 out of 5 stars
Flawless advice
BySaba Iordanishvilion April 13, 2017
Say all you want but I have not encountered a single huge ship since I read this book.

3.0 out of 5 stars
Missed the mark.
ByAmazon Customeron April 11, 2017
Avoiding huge ships is a band aid for our huge ship problem today. We need to come up with a solution to rid huge ships from our waters and even our theme parks. They scare our children. Do it for the kids.

5.0 out of 5 stars
Trimm-endously Helpful
BySSBerthaon March 22, 2017
As a self-hating large ship, I personally enjoyed this book thoroughly. It's along the lines of greats such as "Big Bad Ship", "The Little Big That Couldn't", "South Asian Exotic Big Ship Taxonomy", and the ever classic "Big Bertha: A captain's regrettable experience with a ship that was just too big". Personally, it's helped me come to terms with the fact that I just need to avoid who I really am to fit in to the confines of today's society. Thankfully, I've elected to take an experimental surgery to get my mast reduced. My boyfriend has been really supportive with my mast dysmorphia and we're hoping for the best. Although he's a tiny yacht himself, this book has helped me not to run over him, and now, we work well together. Personally, we ship it.


5.0 out of 5 stars
Solution is easy
ByAmazon Customeron March 10, 2017
I was kindda disappointed after reading 112 pages, and discovering that the answer was "Move to Colorado, Switzerland or any other place far from a sea. Then again, i wasnt aware of this problem before reading this book, and it has saved my life.


1.0 out of 5 stars
Huge ships are ships too!
ByJ. Lauryon January 27, 2017
I'm sorry but fat-shaming innocent ships is just not right in this day and age. Does inclusiveness mean nothing to you people? Animals! What is this, the early '90's?


5.0 out of 5 stars
This book is invaluable!
ByBillon August 21, 2013
When on my jet ski in the Chesapeake bay this summer I was confronted by a huge ship moving up the channel. You can imagine my horror when I realized I had only 1 hour and 45 minutes or so before the lumbering behemoth was sure to pass through my area. With no place to hide and only a water jet propelled small craft beneath me for transport, I quickly withdrew my Kindle Fire from the storage compartment beneath my seat and preceded to read the book How To Avoid Huge Ships. One hour later and with only 45 minutes to spare, I implemented the expert advice provided by the author and turned my jet ski in the opposite direction of the huge ship to avoid certain disaster.


1.0 out of 5 stars
TOO Informative.
ByDanon December 25, 2010
Read this book before going on vacation and I couldn't find my cruise liner in the port. Vacation ruined.

[Xargun]

ORIGINAL: geofflambert

There was a time, I was just fishin' for sunfish, close kin of blue gills but not as pretty, I was standin' up in my canoe when this bass boat ran into me. I had no idea that anything like this could happen in the State of Missourah, but here it did and I was hornswaggled to say the least. All my bait was knocked over the side and swam away. I don't think most states allow this sort of thing and I'm amazed that Missourah does, but, well, there you have it.

Doesn't that state have a law that states something like "No matter what happens it is always the fault of the Gorn" ?

[Canoerebel]

Jorge Stanbury: [:D][:D][:D][:D][:D]

P.S. Did you think that up and execute it in the middle of a dark, quiet night? Wonderfully done.

[Lecivius]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

Jorge Stanbury: [:D][:D][:D][:D][:D]

P.S. Did you think that up and execute it in the middle of a dark, quiet night? Wonderfully done.

Agreed, I was actually falling for it, so a second [:D]

[MakeeLearn]

It's real...