This is what a network news reporter told us this morning, explaining the extensive damage suffered by a US destroyer in a collision with a fully loaded Philippine container ship in the approaches to Yokosuka, Japan. The equation is nonsense, of course. Mass times velocity is momentum, NOT force. Perhaps what he really meant was “Force = mass times acceleration”, which although physically meaningful, is irrelevant in this context.
It makes no difference. We don’t expect broadcast journalists to be knowledgeable about Newton’s Laws of Motion. Still, if you’re going to show off your erudition, you should at least make sure you get it right. Surely, there’s someone in a network news room who took high school physics. A blunder like that makes you wonder how much of the rest of the story is accurate.
I’ve been to Yokosuka (pronounced yo-KUS-ka, he got that wrong too) and its a busy commercial port and a big US Navy base. Its not unexpected that there might be a nightime maritime accident in those busy, crowded waters, where ships are often restricted in their ability to maneuver. I know very little of the details of this collision, but daylight TV footage of the two vessels show the destroyer was T-boned on the starboard side by the freighter, right about where her bridge is located. There was extensive damage to the warship’s hull, main deck and superstructure, and the freighter’s bow was stove in. The destroyer was low in the water and taking on water, down by the head. Several pumps were operating and it looked like they were barely keeping up with the flooding. There were injuries on the American ship (including the Captain who had to be medevaced), and seven sailors were missing, presumably knocked over the side or trapped in the wreckage.
There is no telling who was at fault in the accident, although the location of the damages suggests the freighter had the right-of-way at the moment of contact. Still, it is conceivable that either ship, or even both, could have been at fault. The fact the US skipper was among the casualties suggests he was on the bridge at the time of the accident, or in his sea cabin, which is always located nearby. Another likely location for him to be at was in the ship’s Combat Information Center, which on my destroyer in 1968, was located just aft of the bridge. CIC is where all information coming into the ship is directed, and decisions as to how to respond are made and communicated to the relevant departments. Equipment and procedures are designed to deal with multiple and simultaneous threats. In those busy waters at that time of night, I have no doubt the Captain was awake and on duty. It would be standard operating procedure.
US Navy warships are extremely careful about collisions. They have large crews and are always fully manned when underway. They are bristling with sensors and all traffic nearby is constantly monitored and tracked. On my ship, it was SOP for the Officer of the Deck to wake up the Captain if any vessel’s Closest Point of Approach was even expected to come within five nautical miles, even in the middle of the ocean, far from land with no one else around.
Commercial vessels do have a reputation for being a bit sloppy with their safety procedures. Rather than pay seamen overtime, they have been known to steam under automatic pilot, and not maintain a proper lookout. Blue water yachtsmen are always complaining of near misses. Still, accidents do happen, often due to training, fatigue, procedure, equipment or communications issues. This may even be one of those “radar-assisted collisions” you often hear about.