It appears that the USS Fitzgerald collision may have been an "Engineering Disaster"... 3

[JohnRBaker]

In the same way that the previously discussed Tesla 'autopilot' accident was seen here as an "Engineering Disaster", it's starting to look like the USS Fitzgerald collision with that container ship may have been one as well:

Freighter Was On Autopilot When It Hit U.S. Destroyer

http://freebeacon.com/national-security/freighter-autopilot-hit-us-destroyer/

John R. Baker, P.E. (ret)
EX-Product 'Evangelist'
Irvine, CA
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[berkshire]

So now we will see what the results of the Article 32 hearing turn out to be. I think they will each need a good Advocate to get out of this one.
B.E.

You are judged not by what you know, but by what you can do.

 

[dik]

Regarding the McCain, from Reuters, "“The collision between the USS John S McCain (JSM) and Alnic MC (AM) as they were transiting through the Singapore Strait happened because of a sudden turn to Port by JSM, which caused it to head into the path of AM,” the report said.

The sudden turn was due to “a series of missteps” that took place at the control of the John S. McCain that unintentionally increased the rate of the vessel’s turn, the report by the Transport Safety Investigation Bureau said."

Dik

 

[MacGyverS2000]

Yeah, but isn't that improper control by the operator(s), not an engineering failure? Unless you consider user-interface design an engineering field... which it is to some degree.

Dan - Owner

http://www.Hi-TecDesigns.com

 

[IRstuff]

Control is only one aspect of the issue. The other is SITUATIONAL AWARENESS. The crew failed to perceive that they even in danger of a collision until it was too late, and only then did they even find out that no one had any idea which control console actually had control.

As is often the case, the failure was between the display and the control.

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[HamburgerHelper]

There is a museum in Duluth that documents some of the sinkings. A good chunk of the ships that sunk, sunk during nasty storms on Lake Superior with 70 mph winds. The one guy that I felt the worst for was a ship captain that was under heavy pressure to meet his schedule as he had been regularly falling behind. The ship went out in a hurry with the plan to cap everything as they went out. They took on too much water before the deck got capped and sunk.