A Question for Sailors

[Egon]

That leaves me with even more questions than answers. Once you study the pics, it's pretty clear the fitz was not moving. There's not any scraping or signs of a glancing blow.

Brett

You can't see whats below the waterline. That is where the big bulbous Ram Point is located.

 

[Egon]

It's time to return to the spotter in the Crow's Nest! Heck, a 360 degree view, what could be better.

 

[Paul Thornton]

When I was in (USN 1966-72) we assumed commercial vessels all were on autopilot with an unmanned bridge. Have they done away with the port and starboard watches?

 

[bindian]

That leaves me with even more questions than answers. Once you study the pics, it's pretty clear the fitz was not moving. There's not any scraping or signs of a glancing blow.

Brett

Brett,
Since I slept on it, I have more questions. If the ship was disabled of power and communciations from a new type of weapon, why was the crew and captain still asleep. Getting hit like they did, probably shoved the destroyer's bow out of the way of getting damaged. The question is........what does the container carrier's underwater bow look like?
hugs, Brandi

 

[rustyshakelford]

You can't see whats below the waterline. That is where the big bulbous Ram Point is located.

I understand that but it's a straight broadside hit that wes squared up. If there was movement by the destroyer, wouldn't the impact be angled at least a little? I'm with the camp it was dead in the water when struck

Brett,
Since I slept on it, I have more questions. If the ship was disabled of power and communciations from a new type of weapon, why was the crew and captain still asleep. Getting hit like they did, probably shoved the destroyer's bow out of the way of getting damaged. The question is........what does the container carrier's underwater bow look like?
hugs, Brandi

Might be a cover up to hide the fact that a new weapon system completely disabled a military warship. Wasn't their talk a few weeks ago about someone having the capabilities to disable our weapons exactly like this?

I'm sure the crystals bow is just scraped up a little and missing some red paint.

Brett

 

[Egon]

.I understand that but it's a straight broadside hit that wes squared up. If there was movement by the destroyer, wouldn't the impact be angled at least a little? I'm with the camp it was dead in the water when struck

That big underwater bulb sticks out well past the ships prow. As to strike angle and speed it don't matter which camp your in. None of the camps have on site information. They are pretty good at speculation though.

 

[smstonypoint]

That big underwater bulb sticks out well past the ships prow. As to strike angle and speed it don't matter which camp your in. None of the camps have on site information. They are pretty good at speculation though.

I'm in the camp that doesn't have a clue as to how this could have happened.

Steve

 

[Steave]

I don't understand how things like this happen with all the safe guards in place. Makes me mad that somebody let their guard down and down right angry that these sailors lives were lost because of it. While this don't actually fall into this category, friendly fire deaths are a tragedy in anybody's book but they do happen but they happen usually during a dire situation of combat. I know it don't make it easier for the families involved and never justified but the mishap usually isn't caused by negligence but by a mistake under stress of combat.

We haven't heard all the story and may never but this incidence appears to have been unavoidable. My son was on the USS Roosevelt Aircraft Carrier with a F18 fighter squadron when the ship crashed with another ship off the coast of North Carolina during a combat training mission. (1996) Below is the link but no pix. Might could dig around and find pix of the Carrier because I seen them once years ago. Crashes do happen somehow. My son said on dark nights you cannot see your hand in front of your face so if the Cargo ship's lights were dim or off for some reason it probably was never seen by anyone even if they were on guard.



Uss Leyte Gulf Collision | Navy maneuvers after collision at sea Admiral's promotion divides Navy brass - tribunedigital-baltimoresun

 

[Egon]

I'm in the camp that doesn't have a clue as to how this could have happened.

Steve

Me too!:thumbsup:

 

[3930dave]

An around the world race sail boat ran aground in the Indian Ocean a year or so ago even though they had the best charts and equipment available. On these racing boats, unlike other crew members, the navigators only duty is to navigate and I think worry about weather. The navigator simply did not zoom down into the electronic chart to see if there were any islands or reefs along their course. Their sail boat ran into a reef at a good rate of speed. :confused3: Thankfully, no body was killed and the boat was eventually hauled off the reef an repaired.

There was likely a similar incident where a couple were cruising north in the Caribbean sea. The set a course on the autopilot and eventually ran into an island. They both died. The best guess is that they set the course but did not zoom down into the chart to see the island in their path.

Another guy was sailing solo and set the auto pilot way point off an island. The auto pilot sound an alarm when the vessel came to the way point but the captain was asleep and slept through the alarm. He woke up when the boat hit the island.

I know of more incidents but I think those make the point that while the technology is fairly robust, there are limitations that need to be understood.

Excellent examples. People tend to gravitate to IF: Got Tech = Yes, THEN: Think = No, that's what scares me....

Your first 2 examples tie into what I was getting at about what basic modern navigation should be capable of - the data was there, but not visible to the human operator - Why is the operator allowed to program a nautical auto-pilot course that passes through a land-mass ? How can NOT flagging that as a potentially lethal error be considered anything but negligent ?

Next level up, 2 moving boats.... as a control system, today, we never should have to start this thread.

Rgds, D.