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It is currently Sat May 04, 2024 4:20 am
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Container ship autopilot, Fitzgerald didn't see it coming
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delliottg
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Location: Duvall Joined: Thu Mar 17, 2011 Posts: 4606
Real Name: David
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Having spent some time on a container ship larger than this one, the USNS Stephen W. Pless, I can understand some of the stuff being said. Our ship was a bit larger than the one that hit the Fitzgerald, but if it were fully loaded down as the Crystal was, and on auto pilot, I could easily see where they wouldn't have necessarily noticed they'd hit something. If you look at the track, I suspect they hit the Fitzgerald at the point where the track makes a sharp 90° to the right. Shearing off to gain control would make sense for the ship to move to the right, away from the collision, which all could have taken place via the auto-pilot. They would have felt the shudder when they hit, but for all they knew, they'd hit a large bit of flotsam and the auto-pilot dealt with it. The ship I was on only had 28 crew members (I wasn't a crew member, I was part of the maintenance crew for the USMC and had no shipboard duties unless there was a fire). A lot of ships have even fewer crew members and it's common to let the AP drive the ship (also more economical). I still don't understand how the Fitzgerald let them get anywhere near them, hopefully we hear how that happened, but I'm not holding my breath.
_________________David Unique Treen
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Fri Jun 23, 2017 12:47 pm |
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Guntrader
In Memoriam
Location: Mukilteoish Joined: Sat Mar 26, 2011 Posts: 11595
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The truth is buried deep and is certainly not the fairy story were being given. I doubt we'll ever know what really happened.
_________________ NRA Endowment Member. How did they know my member was well endowed?
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Fri Jun 23, 2017 2:08 pm |
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hkcavalier
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Location: NE WA Joined: Tue Oct 18, 2011 Posts: 5500
Real Name: The Dude
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Guntrader wrote: The truth is buried deep and is certainly not the fairy story were being given. I doubt we'll ever know what really happened. Based on the track of the container ship, I think there is only one logical explanation.
_________________ "Wherever you go, there you are."
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Fri Jun 23, 2017 2:17 pm |
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NotAMerc
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Joined: Mon Dec 9, 2013 Posts: 2164
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Aloha snackbar?
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Fri Jun 23, 2017 3:56 pm |
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Pablo
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Location: Everson, WA Joined: Sun Jan 6, 2013 Posts: 28196
Real Name: Ace Winky
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So who is holding this back from us? Trump or Deep State?
_________________ Why does the Penguin in Batman sound like a duck?
Because the eagle sounds like a hawk.
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Fri Jun 23, 2017 4:05 pm |
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PMB
In Memoriam
Joined: Wed Mar 6, 2013 Posts: 12018
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I can buy any number of possibilities for the container ship going astray... The hacking job hit an "ah HAH!" button in me. Sometimes complicated conspiracy theories are interesting for thinking through the hows, whether reality or not...
But -nothing- comes close to satisfying my disbelief at one of our high tech destroyers getting rammed by a container ship. The simplest explanation is a couple of fellows asleep at the watch or deep in a game of rummy- but no freaking way. There are alarms for that. I remember having contacts at 25,000 meters, and we would plot their courses for awhile even at that distance if they were receding contacts. Approaching contacts were plotted, planned around, contingency factors worked out... It was a big deal to have ships approach us. Sonar folks were HOPPING busy keeping the OOW up to date on speed and heading. I spent my time in the engineering spaces, not steering/control, and there were 7 of us (at the very least) on watch in engineering at all times at sea. I wasn't on a destroyer, and I am sure that being in a busy sea lane makes a difference too. I can picture a container ship having a rogue crew member or being hacked... I can't picture either of those things on our destroyer.
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Fri Jun 23, 2017 5:04 pm |
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George
Joined: Sun Dec 30, 2012 Posts: 359
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Why are they not telling us. Were the radar systems of the Fitzgerald being jammed. Russian cyber weapon https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/na ... bf4f53651aRussian satellite weapon http://www.cnn.com/2016/12/21/politics/ ... index.htmlRussian jamming http://yournewswire.com/russia-raises-s ... nato-jets/Maybe this is miss information Intercept attempt fails in missile defense test off Hawaii http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/06/22/in ... awaii.html
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Fri Jun 23, 2017 7:47 pm |
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mancat
Location: Vaughn Joined: Tue Mar 19, 2013 Posts: 1951
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bigzdawg wrote: Since everyone is speculating and nobody has been given any actual information, I heard a new rumor today on the radio.
The container ship navigation was hacked and was taken over, and driven into the Fitzgerald.
I have no idea if true, but I have read where auto computers can be hacked. This does not seem too far to be possibly true.
After all, in 2014, the Chinese hacked government computers and stole the restricted information and backgrounds of over 20 million government workers under Obama, including overseas spies. The press at the time didn't seem to care at the time.
The hackers seem to be a generation ahead of those running the IT departments. Many ECDIS systems are connected to the internet via cellular or satellite systems to facilitate chart updates and product patches. Depending on ships IT infrastructure security could vary. I find it pretty far fetched especially considering that most Inmarsat/Iridium/etc. client IPs are in a private IP space i.e. not routeable and these providers often have firewall rules in place only allowing specific types of traffic unless specifically requested by the customer to open it up. More likely for someone aboard to have done it, if it was intentional.
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Sat Jun 24, 2017 6:40 am |
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hkcavalier
Site Supporter
Location: NE WA Joined: Tue Oct 18, 2011 Posts: 5500
Real Name: The Dude
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I think I was too vague in my previous post...
I cannot believe that a USN destroyer would just "let" a container ship hit them because they were too busy PMing the insides of their eyelids. The only explanation I've seen that makes sense is that the container ship misled the Fitz (intentionally or through incredible negligence) with its course corrections and by the time it was clear many mistakes were made, the collision was a fait accompli. I think we all understand these vessels don't turn and swerve like a Porsche 911.
_________________ "Wherever you go, there you are."
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Sat Jun 24, 2017 9:07 am |
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