I know there are some real Surface Warfare Officers on this board, but I think I can open the aperture a little bit.
During a "disassociated sea tour" I was the Airboss on the Commander, Middle East Forces Command Ship, the USS La Salle, AGF-3. She is now an artificial reef.
Unfortunately, I also qualified for Officer of the Deck, Underway (OOD). I had my own watch section and was responsible for all things La Salle when on watch. The USS La Salle was a steam ship, btw.
Anyway.
A few things.
There are "rules of the road" for ships at sea, who gives way, etc. (a LOT of rules) but at night it can get confusing...I cannot imagine the DDG could not maneuver. They also have what is called ATS, sort of a transponder for ships so the DDG knew it was a big commercial they were dealing with. Lastly the "rules of the road" zero in, regardless of other surface traffic, on "giving way": No vessel ever has absolute "right of way" over other vessels. Rather, there can be a "give way" (burdened) vessel and a "stand on" (privileged) vessel, or there may be two give way vessels with no stand on vessel.
Fun, huh?
Most of my OOD time was in the Persian Gulf, tanker central. The rule of thumb was that the large commercial ships had very predictable routes they followed and the bridge of those ships are minimally manned. Unless we were in flight ops, we would give way. No sense playing chicken with a chicken that is ten/twenty times your weight without the ability to maneuver.
The DDG, however, has two Watch Sections awake: The bridge team and the Combat Information Center (CIC) team. Both work together. CIC is tracking and identifying everything and relaying what they know to the bridge. The bridge has radar repeaters and what are called "scope heads" where surface contacts and intercept angles are constantly plotted. There are at least five Watchstanders on the bridge, probably ten in CIC.
"Constant Bearing, Decreasing Range" should have been called out miles and miles in advance of contact. The fact that the DDG was hit amidship is very interesting and perplexing.
That said, perhaps the DDG was under restricted emissions policy (called EMCON) or doing drills.
Again, I just thought I'd provide some insight into how ships at sea work.
I pray for the missing sailors, fine young men and women lost their lives.
