No warning flares ????
No helicopters scrambled ???
No machine gun fire to warn cargo ship ???
Something is not right.
*** Edit ***
Where’s the multiple layers of leadership and why aren’t many heads on a swivel ?
There are multiple layers of leadership.
I’m certain many heads were on a swivel, and I’m certain mistakes were made on both ships.
But the US Navy does not go firing on civilian ships as a warning method. That’s a lot like shooting your gun at your neighbor because he’s about to run his car over your flowers.
Depending on where this happened, whether it was near a port, or out on the open ocean, the Navy has many other ways of warning ships that do not involve lethal force. Near a port, the carrier has small escorts, and helicopters, to guard against threats, and warn other shipping.
Lethal force will be used, if a vessel presents a legitimate, lethal threat to the carrier. Iran, in particular likes to challenge our Navy with small boats, presenting a threat. But a blundering cargo ship that failed to change course is just that, a blundering cargo ship, not a threat that can be dealt with by force.
However, once the ships are fairly close, even shooting at the other ship with a machine gun makes no difference. You cannot stop a carrier, or a super tanker, or a cargo ship, instantly. Even if you put lethal missiles through it, it would take a while to sink, and the collision would still happen. So, what’s the point of shooting at them?
As far as the measures that the carrier took to warn the other ship, that will have to wait for the investigation. As far as who was the stand on, who was the right of way, vessel, that will have to wait for the investigation. The carrier has the right of way when it’s conducting Flight operations, but I haven’t seen anything in news reports that said they were, or were not, conducting flight operations.
It takes a couple of minutes to to get a helicopter in the air from an alert status. If you knew the collision was minutes away, and you had enough time to launch a helicopter, you probably had enough time to turn the ship, to alter course, and to alter speed to avoid the collision.
If you didn’t have enough time to alter course or alter speed to avoid the collision, then you also did not have enough time to get a helicopter in the air.
Further, even if you did get the helicopters in the air, it does not mean that the crew on the other ship is paying attention.
We don’t know if that crew was paying attention, or not, if they had a propulsion or steering failure that rendered them unable to change course, or if there was a language barrier on the Ship to Ship common radio frequency, where they were unable to communicate their inability to steer or control their vessel.
In fact, we really don’t know much at all right now, and we will have to wait for the investigation.
