Hith Does This Happen?!

[NSTG8R]

I'm a Navy veteran (80'-84'), but admittedly an "airdale" that only 8 total days of sea duty under my belt. That said, How in the H*ll does a US Navy ship collide with something as big as an oil tanker...twice within 6 months!? With radar, sonar and crew members standing watch it just doesn't make ANY sense how something like this could happen...and during daylight hours to boot! Somebody needs to be keel-hauled for this SNAFU!!

My deepest condolences go out to the family's of the lost sailors.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world...th-merchant-ship/ar-AAqrEfs?OCID=ansmsnnews11

 

[johnsnownw]

I'm a Navy veteran (80'-84'), but admittedly an "airdale" that only 8 total days of sea duty under my belt. That said, How in the H*ll does a US Navy ship collide with something as big as an oil tanker...twice within 6 months!? With radar, sonar and crew members standing watch it just doesn't make ANY sense how something like this could happen...and during daylight hours to boot! Somebody needs to be keel-hauled for this SNAFU!!

My deepest condolences go out to the family's of the lost sailors.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world...th-merchant-ship/ar-AAqrEfs?OCID=ansmsnnews11

I've been thinking on this. I'm not one prone to conspiracy, but these incidents are so similar that I wonder if these are the result of hacking. You could, I assume, essentially cloak a ship by hacking the radar and sonar. And if the Navy is relying too heavily on the technology side, it could explain why crew members weren't a reliable back-up.

Again, this is pure conjecture...but it's the only thing I can come up with that makes sense of this absurdity.

 

[NSTG8R]

I've been thinking on this. I'm not one prone to conspiracy, but these incidents are so similar that I wonder if these are the result of hacking. You could, I assume, essentially cloak a ship by hacking the radar and sonar. And if the Navy is relying too heavily on the technology side, it could explain why crew members weren't a reliable back-up.

Again, this is pure conjecture...but it's the only thing I can come up with that makes sense of this absurdity.

Possible, but it still doesn't explain how the 'watch" [crew members], which are posted at ALL times, didn't see something as big as a tanker coming from 10 miles away. Maybe some serious fog conditions? I know that it was consistently so thick in San Diego until 8am that you could cut it with a knife. You'd think after the first incident there'd be some major changes made to the procedures while patrolling, particularly in the waters near China. Ponderous, for sure!

 

[gottemfeathers]

I've been thinking on this. I'm not one prone to conspiracy, but these incidents are so similar that I wonder if these are the result of hacking. You could, I assume, essentially cloak a ship by hacking the radar and sonar. And if the Navy is relying too heavily on the technology side, it could explain why crew members weren't a reliable back-up.

Again, this is pure conjecture...but it's the only thing I can come up with that makes sense of this absurdity.

I'm not a conspiracy type but you may be on to something. How this could happen twice in a similar fashion makes you wonder. Iran claims to have hacked one of our drones so it's not far fetched to believe someone could have hacked some navigation equipment on the ship. I'm not sure if we will ever learn the truth.

 

[Donnyboy]

I'm not sure if we will ever learn the truth.

We won't. But the people that hacked the ship(if that's truly what happened), are going to wake up to some bad dudes in their bedroom tonight.

 

[floydv]

Maybe the Navy replaced all their navigational equipment with Infinite Skyz. It was ten times more expensive than the next most expensive system, so it had to be good.

 

[BilgeRat]

In the case of the Fitzgerald, the watch violated the First Commandment of Blue Water: If in any kind of doubt, get the captain up! The same thing went on with the Exxon Valdez and the collision of the Stockholm and the Andrea Doria.

This is something that I've never understood, either. The Rules of the Road may say that your ship has the right of way, but what kind of mental constipation prevents either party from seeing the developing problem, ringing up "Dead Slow Ahead" and picking up a radio and asking the other vessel on channel 16, "What are your intentions?" Considering the potential consequences, WHY THE HELL NOT?

I suspect the answer may lie in psychology, but I don't know. The deck department is a different world.

Reading William Hoffer's "Saved!" about the collision of the Doria and the Stockholm might provide some insight, I don't know...

 

[Rob Croson]

I don't think this is any sort of hacking or covert operation. The CO/XO/Senior NCO of the Fitzgerald were all relieved for cause, and several more are expected to subjected to NJP. Essentially "Loss of situational awareness". They screwed up, and let discipline and procedures get lax and not be followed. Possibly also more than a little overconfidence. "We're a warship, dammit, and they better look out for us!"

There is no single incident or factor that you can point to and say "This is what caused the problem". A lot of things have to fail before something like this can happen. A confluence of errors that contribute to a larger, catastrophic failure.

 

[Watashiwah]

I don't think this is any sort of hacking or covert operation. The CO/XO/Senior NCO of the Fitzgerald were all relieved for cause, and several more are expected to subjected to NJP. Essentially "Loss of situational awareness". They screwed up, and let discipline and procedures get lax and not be followed. Possibly also more than a little overconfidence. "We're a warship, dammit, and they better look out for us!"

There is no single incident or factor that you can point to and say "This is what caused the problem". A lot of things have to fail before something like this can happen. A confluence of errors that contribute to a larger, catastrophic failure.

Made me think about this movie we saw in Navy Boot Camp, way back in 1976.... It's funny that i looked for it once in a while online, but never found it 'til just now.

 

[BilgeRat]

Another aspect to this that I didn't think about.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/25/...ain-oil-tanker.html?smid=fb-nytimes&smtyp=cur