Maritime Mystery: Why a U.S. Destroyer Failed to Dodge a Cargo Ship

The long and short of it is that both ships screwed the pooch. Which is amazing, given the sheer number of people involved in navigating them both. The Fitz was the give-way (meaning, they were required by maritime law and the developing situation, to maneuver to avoid a collision) vessel, and they failed to give way. Strip away ALL other factors, and that one alone puts the Fitz at fault. That does not, however, absolve the Crystal. COLREGS (Rules of the Road for ships of any flag or nation) lays all the various ship-to-ship interactions out, and how to deal with them, but also contains this very pertinent clause: "Nothing in these Rules shall exonerate any vessel, or the owner, master, or crew thereof, from the consequences of any neglect to comply with these Rules or of the neglect of any precaution which may be required by the ordinary practice of seamen...in order to avoid collision at sea." (I have paraphrased this). Meaning, little consideration will be given for following the rules if your INACTION while doing so, contributes to a collision. In other words: "You can break these rules as needed in order to avoid collisions."

Anyway, as LT Brad McInnis says, you can gain a lot more insight from the discussions we've had in some of the posts I've made, which include a variety of viewpoints across the spectrum. Actual Discussions, Colonel -- I don't want you to waste your time looking through my thousands of comments and responses lol.

Lt Col John (Jack) Christensen Sir, you might want to search for SN Greg Wright 's posts. We covered just about everything, plus there is a Change.org petition to name a DDG after the FC1 who closed the hatch, ensuring his and several other sailors deaths, in order to save the ship from sinking.

Heads will roll... beginning with the Capt & OOD (officer of the deck)... toss in the radar watch standers... possibly the Senior (as in rank, not the rating) Chief... the deck division officer... geez, it goes on...