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We see a lot of articles talking about what the NAVY does or doesn't do, and most of them off-handidly talk about what happens on a merchant ship bridge as if they know, when in reality, they haven't a clue as to the professionalism, training and knowledge of merchant seamen, and what they actually do on a ship's bridge. It gets a little frustrating.
The biggest difference is that Naval officers are not professional seamen, and do not possess the same level of skills that a merchant officer has. In the referenced article, the author (who is an IT professional, and had very little seagoing experience) gives an odd anecdote involving having to remember everything about thrity-nine contacts, which is ridiculous. Even trying to do that is begging for disaster.
In reality, what we do in busy situations, such as transiting the Singapore Straits (an area I have extensive experience with), is identify vessels that could cause a possible risk of collision, and not spend a lot of time on everyone else. It's sort of like triage. You deal with the worst first, and go from there. All merchant full sixed merchant ships carry a minimum of two radars designed for navigational and collision avoidance use. The radars are equipped with Automatic Radar Plotting Aids (ARPS) which can automatically track contacts and display CPA (closest point of approach), as well as the contact's course, speed and actual position. Additionally, information from AIS can be superimposed on the radar. Finally, ARPA has a trial maneuver mode, which shows what will happen if you change course or speed.
On a merchant ship's bridge, the deck officer is normally on watch with an able seaman who acts as a lookout. In areas where hand steering is expected to be in use, a second able seaman is typically called out to act as the lookout while the other steers. It would not be uncommon to (although I wouldn't do it) to still be in auto when entering the lanes in the area of the collision with the McCain. Taking a vessel out of auto is simple, you just flip a switch, and is something all able seamen know how to do, as it is not uncommon to go into hand during a watch to maneuver around traffic.
In the case of the collision with the McCain, it appears that the McCain had a steering casualty that caused her to cross ahead of the tanker with little warning. We will see what the VDR (Voyage Data Recorder - like a plane's black box) data shows, but I suspect that the Alnic will be found blameless in this case.
Assuming the information about the steering casualty is correct, a good root cause analysis of the incident will dig into why the steering gear failed in the first place. In general, vessel steering systems are simple and reliable, and shouldn't fail in such a way that a vessel suddenly veers off course. Additionally, a secondary steering system on a merchant vessel can be activated in a matter of seconds. I would be interested to learn if the same is true for a Naval vessel.
CaptStash....
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