The thing you have to understand about the American military is that when America sends its people, they're not sending their best. They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.

#ExNavy

That quote could and should be applied to the entire history of warfare.

Lol. The inadvertant genius of Trump.

I joined the military when I was 17, 4 days out of high school, because I was tired of people telling me what to do all the time. BRILLIANT!

If I had it to do all over again, I would have joined for the cheap hookers and easy access to booze and crank all over the place instead...

If only they had had a gun...

Maybe the missing sailors will still turn up- like this guy.

Seriously, don't all ships this size have anti-collision tech? This couldn't have been a surprise.

Shit breaks, man. The american public has this idea of the military having top of the line technology, but out in the field that shit is often nowhere to be found. When I was in I was on one of the oldest commissioned frigates still active and the damn thing was on fire once a day. My first day at sea was spent working on a navigation computer I had never seen before and the equipment I was trained on was missing all the diagnostic equipment I was supposed to use to fix the shit. And then, yeah, human incompetence runs rampant. People are often poorly trained, dealing with drugs, alcohol, depression, or just plain lacking the mental faculties/wherewithal to be doing their job. I'm not a fan of the military, but I've got a hefty amount of sympathy for the poor saps caught up in the machine.

So I guess dumpster was right? The US military is in shambles, and needs the $58B investment?

Your description also contradicts the perception and advocacy by former military personnel that military training and instruction is what we should base society on. Reward- punishment, incentives, and skin in the game. Man up, and if you don't you're a snowflake. Drugs, alcohol, depression, stupidity, and incompetence aren't part of that narrative.

Lol. This was 20 years ago when I was in, Clinton actually, but it's always been the case. Anytime you hear a sexual harassment scandal or whatever national embarrassment, understand that it took a long and arduous route of being ignored and compounded to reach public perception. The military has never been a well oiled machine of discipline and efficiency. No amount of billions is going to change that unless you're planning on phasing out all the humans. And I mean ALL THE HUMANS.

#SkynetIsForever

Then what'll we do with all the rum, sodomy, and the lash?

We'll have to teach it to the AI.

So, has ISIS claimed responsibility for this yet?

The container ship did a crazy, sudden double U turn before the collision.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-40317341

Yes, someone on the destroyer was asleep at the wheel (likely literally), but the container ship a) did a completely unpredicted movement and b) wasn't looking where it was going either.

There should have been enough klaxons sounding to wake everybody on both ships, way before the collision. .

It doesn't work that way on the high seas. The bigger the boat, the slower it is to react.

But this kind of thing is more common than you think around ports and in shipping lanes.

The sea be a harsh mistress, yarrrrr.

"Marine traffic records suggest the ACX Crystal, a 222-metre (730ft) Filipino-flagged container ship, made a sudden U-turn roughly 25 minutes before the crash. It is not known why it changed course."

"Sudden" meaning unexpected, it wasn't a high speed hairpin. And I don't think boats have proximity sensors to sound an alarm but I could be wrong.

The U-turn could only be rationally explained as going back to look for something that might have fallen overboard, or perhaps responding to a distress signal or similar. Both ships would have running lights, though, and it was a clear and calm night.

It's a crowded area of ocean, but all the more reason that all the people on the bridge would be vigilant. Navy boats are designed to have low radar signature, but at this point it's all just a huge WTF.

Proximity sensors seems pretty basic, as does tracking nearby traffic. It's not exotic tech. Not crashing your ship kind of seems like job #1 for both parties.

Typically ship detection relies on human eyesight and radar. I don't think there's the equivalent of a "find your iPhone" for ships yet. Sure, not crashing your boat is a priority ... but you also have to appreciate that at sea nothing happens for hours at a time and ships almost always travel in a straight line at constant speed. It's pretty boring, predictable stuff. Think of it like a car in cruise control on a very flat, straight highway.

As noted by the media, Fitzgerald was hit on her starboard side. Meaning the container ship had right-of-way and it was up to the Navy vessel to give way.

What it looks like to me from the direction the ship was hit and the published path of the ACX Crystal is that the destroyer would have seen the container ship pass over her bow from port to starboard and some distance ahead about 40 minutes before the collision, bearing away from her towards Tokyo. The Fitzgerald crew saw no other ships nearby and figuring all was clear [stopped keeping watch for some unknown reason]. The ACX Crystal started maneuvering soon afterwards [for some unknown reason], doubling back towards the destroyer, smashing bow first into the US ship, which had until then just been sailing straight for Yokosuka. Either the Crystal didn't see the destroyer, or she expected the Fitzgerald to give way to the larger ship on her starboard side, as per the rules of navigation.

Regardless of whatever caused the ACX Crystal to do what it did, the Navy bridge crew on duty that night were AFK, and are undoubtedly in major shit right about now.

BTW the photos all show the crushed superstructure but the real damage to the destroyer was under the waterline, what you don't see. It was a near thing the ship didn't sink then and there.

All in all a terrible accident.

You're probly right, but it seems pretty fucked up to be relying on titanic-level technology.

Old-fashioned vigilance is still last-best line of defense.