(Small wall plaque on the chartroom bulkhead of USS Dewey, DLG-14), 1968.

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2012/08/uss-porter-collides-with-oil-tanker-in-persian-gulf/

What happened to Porter is absolutely inexplicable, so far it looks like it is totally the Navy’s fault, although we certainly don’t know of any extenuating circumstances, such as visibility, sea conditions, hazards to navigation, steering failure, other vessels in the vicinity, enemy action, etc.

I already understand the Quartermaster, XO, and skipper’s Navy careers are finished, regardless of extenuating circumstances. The Navy is not very forgiving in this kind of incident, even to the point of downright unfairness.

I was a bridge watch quartermaster on the 1968 equivalent of Porter, a top-of-the-line, state-of-the art missile destroyer, and it was my job to provide the officer of the deck with the latest position, course and speed information or estimates and be available for consultation on technical details relating to the navigation of the ship, such as signals, light displays, aids to navigation, rules of the road, local geography, and so on. In that operational situation, the Captain is usually awake and on deck, there are extra lookouts posted, and everyone is alert. The ship might not be at full General Quarters, but it would be at some kind of higher-than-normal readiness condition.

I can only speculate on what happened. But remember, I wasn’t there, and the press hasn’t been very generous with the facts of the incident. But I do know there was someone like me on that bridge when that happened, and it probably would have been an experienced, senior Quartermaster, that is exactly the kind of tactical situation you would expect the bad guys to take advantage of and you should be ready for.

Apparently, Porter made a hard left turn across the bows of the other ship, a hard-to-maneuver tanker in restricted waters with a clear right of way. Porter was struck amidships on the starboard side. This maneuver is totally inexcusable, although we don’t know if there were other vessels in the area, a potential enemy threat, a floating hazard, radar failure, incorrect or misunderstood signals, who knows? We don’t even know whether it was day or night, or what the weather was like. It wasn’t necessarily sheer incompetence, but in those potentially hostile, restricted waters, you would think they would have been ready for just such a complication. We drilled for that sort of thing constantly.

Well, no one was hurt, so that’s good news. We’ll have to wait for more data. I suspect there’s a lot more to this story than we’ve been led to believe.