There should be no reason for a collision to occur, short of mechanical failure. But with all due respect, for all the arm chair quarterbacks here that have never driven a 550 foot long 8,000 ton ship in a constrained water way, surrounded by unpredictable mariners in the dark of the night, you have no idea what you're talking about.
You should have ended your post at the first sentence. To allow an vessel with unknown intentions to approach and strike a USN ship calls for an immediate JAG review. How vulnerable was the Fitzgerald to a terrorist attack?
And no, I don't need to have navigated a USN ship in order to express my disapproval.
