On Tue, 27 Jun 2017 22:39:39 -0500, Wayne.B
wrote:

On Tue, 27 Jun 2017 13:27:51 -0400, wrote:

I am hearing that the destroyer was passing in front of the freighter.
The Fitz was the give way vessel and the freighter was the stand on
vessel. The ACX was supposed to maintain course and speed. The story
is it turned right full rudder, and that is what put them on a
collision course. They hit 10 minutes later. If the ACX maintains
course and speed, it passes astern of the destroyer.
ACX was trying to help but following the rules of the road is what
they were supposed to be doing

===

For the "give way" vessel to attempt passing in front strikes me as
being very questionable. It fails to comprehend the various Murphy's
Law possibilities and of course that's exactly what happened. At the
very least the destroyer should have communicated and negotiated their
intentions well in advance of the actual crossing situation to prevent
any possible confusion. We hear commercial ships negotiate meeting
and crossing situations all the time on VHF radio. We've even
participated in a few ourselves where there was ambiguity. I'm always
impressed by the high degree of professionalism that we've encountered
even though much smaller than the big guys.

I will not be surprised if the destroyer crew assumed the freighter
was going to stay on course and they thought they would just cut
through,being gone when the freighter got there. Looking at the track,
if they took 10 minutes to hit after changing course 90 degrees
(looking at the track) they would have missed by a couple miles.
I agree they should have negotiated the pass but military guys can get
arrogant some times. I am sure we will be hearing more about it.