As said before - power comes back on, the ship's hard turn is actually prop walk due to it being single screw. Full astern will cause the stern to swing to port, essentially lining the ship/effectively bow to starboard. It's a physics thing.
Your theory makes sense, Teal. But are you not believing the reports that the propulsion never came back on, and the black smoke was from the backup generator?
This engineer HERE has said that the smoke isn't diesel generator out the stack but main propulsion as fuel pressure comes up.
Again, it all makes sense. But that Commentary by Buckley III talks about the "Captain" doing all kinds of things. Is he meaning to refer to the Pilot? And the NTSB, I think, is saying that the Pilot recognized that the propulsion was out, never came back, and the only order he gave was to drop the port anchor. Perhaps that's wrong, but, as gifted as Buckley III may be, he wasn't there, and I assume the Captain wasn't issuing orders. Again, I could be wrong.
