My take of the USS McCain collision -
1. The McCain was cruising in crowded waters near Singapore before sunrise. Because of a current running right to left across the course of the ship, the sailor assigned to helm watch was struggling to maintain intended course with rudder and propeller offsets.
2. The CO in command on the bridge disregarded a suggestion by other officers on the bridge to call the Sea and Anchor detail earlier than scheduled, which would have placed more experienced personnel at each bridge watch station.
3. The CO ordered a control setup with which the bridge watch was not familiar - rudder control was put in control of lee helm watch while helm watch was to maintain control of the throttles.
2. The lee helm watch did not know or did not notice that the rudder went amidships automatically upon the transfer command to the ship control system.
3. The helm watch did not know or did not notice that the throttles were uncoupled by the transfer command, so he had to control both throttles manually, or directly change to combined control. Therefore the CO's command to reduce speed was sent only to the port propeller, while the starboard prop continued at its higher-speed setting.
4. As a result of those changes, exacerbated by attempts to recover from what was perceived by the bridge watch as a loss of steering control, the McCain drifted to the left directly in front of MV Alnic.
1. The McCain was cruising in crowded waters near Singapore before sunrise. Because of a current running right to left across the course of the ship, the sailor assigned to helm watch was struggling to maintain intended course with rudder and propeller offsets.
2. The CO in command on the bridge disregarded a suggestion by other officers on the bridge to call the Sea and Anchor detail earlier than scheduled, which would have placed more experienced personnel at each bridge watch station.
3. The CO ordered a control setup with which the bridge watch was not familiar - rudder control was put in control of lee helm watch while helm watch was to maintain control of the throttles.
2. The lee helm watch did not know or did not notice that the rudder went amidships automatically upon the transfer command to the ship control system.
3. The helm watch did not know or did not notice that the throttles were uncoupled by the transfer command, so he had to control both throttles manually, or directly change to combined control. Therefore the CO's command to reduce speed was sent only to the port propeller, while the starboard prop continued at its higher-speed setting.
4. As a result of those changes, exacerbated by attempts to recover from what was perceived by the bridge watch as a loss of steering control, the McCain drifted to the left directly in front of MV Alnic.