There's going to be plenty of guilt to go around. I've got many years experience on the bridge from helmsman and lookout to QMOW and Conn. Been the XO and had command. There's probably a chain of mistakes that allowed this to occur, but it shouldn't have and there is no acceptable excuse. The captain is at fault and the investigation will bear that out. He has the ultimate responsibility for the safety of his ship. PERIOD! It's a heart breaking tragedy, nonetheless.
That.... I've done all the above except XO and command.. I also heard a report that the captain of the destroyer just took command a month before.. But I haven't seen anything of his prior experience of any command.. Maybe the USN standards have changed since I was in, but NO WAY did we let any ship get within 5,000 yards unless we were on training ops with it OR that the other ship was steaming away at that range..
The upcoming inquiry will - as you stated - show plenty of guilt... WHO was the OOD? Did the lookouts notify the OOD of the ship? Did the OOD or lookouts read that ship's indicator lights wrong (masthead, range, port/starboard)?? Where the hell was the radar operator? What was the condition of the destroyer at the time? Underway? Speed?
Don't know what'll happen - but in my day the captain of that ship would not be in command again.. We had an XO on the Razorback that we used to refer to as "Shaky" Jake Steckler (LtCDR).....since before he came on board he was in command when he ran the Catfish aground.. He was promptly removed and sent to us to be second in command.. He was a nice guy though - and fair..
Sad for those sailors who lost their lives with this incident..
