Aussie 48: Correct about the "time-zone" thing in Oz military use.
All our comms-centre logs were in Zulu and there was always a "master clock" kept on that time and labeled as such. Some types even wore two watches, each neatly labeled with a time zone. The advent of digital watches with adjustable display formats greatly simplified that matter.
Daily routine on the ground; reveille, mess times, duty times, etc, were in "local" time, but all comms were tagged in Zulu.
The advent of the US GPS system changed a LOT of things. A flock of polar-orbiting satellites, each transmitting time-code, provides amazing precision in timing and navigation. "Mil-spec" system initially could locate you within ten metres accuracy or better, anywhere on the face of the planet. This is because the "good gear' uses two frequencies as opposed to the "civilian" units using one. "Civilian" ones were initially limited to 100metres accuracy, but that seems to have been improved, lately. Now, for example, GPS-enabled smartphones are typically accurate to within 5m circle. Major constraints or causes of error are blocking, reflection or absorption from large building in the vicinity or heavy, wet, tree canopy cover.
The accuracy of the "on-board' maps in a GPS receiver is also critical. If the folk who wrote the code that drives the maps, leave out minor roads, random geographical features, etc. things can get untidy fairly quickly. This is akin to the practice of some purveyors of paper maps for car-drivers, of leaving out minor roads. So, as you are driving at the limit, from Las Vegas to catch a flight at LAX, and counting exits etc., rally style, a "missing" road can rapidly land you in all sorts of geographical embarrassment. Having your domestic GPS receiver on the dash of the car, with no external antenna, also greatly slows down the ability of the unit to update at highway speeds, because the car's body is a pretty good Faraday cage, and thus blocks or seriously attenuates some of the signals.
I'm also ancient enough to have monitored the old "National Bureau of Standards" time signals on short wave radio; a voice droning on endlessly; "At the tone, it will be nine-forty-eight and ten seconds, precisely". and incrementally so on, every five seconds, twenty-four hours a day. They are now called WWV and are still very active, transmitting from near Fort Collins, Colorado.
I was a surface sailor in the USN. I saw collisions, fires, electrical shocks, people falling overboard. Being at sea is dangerous. For some of the reasons why this could happen, read this blog from a former destroyer captain: How Could This Happen? The Fitzgerald, the U.S. Navy, and Collisions at Sea
Thank you for providing that article, Mr. McGrath explains with experience the factors which could be involved, food for thought but we just can't be certain until the inquiry is complete.
As a pre INS/GPS, DR/Celestial navigator I am always interested in the exact time. I have two watches and a clock that synchronize automatically with WWVH every morning at 0500.
FWIW
As a former sailor, my best guess is that some OOD, along with the rest of the duty watch and the old man, are in deep dodo.
How a small, fast, destroyer type can be hit by a lumbering merchant vessel is inexplicable unless the whole bridge watch was badly distracted or asleep.
It happened around 3 bells on the mid watch. You would think that seeing both green and red nav lights on the horizon at the same time would get a lookouts attention. Curious to see what the Board of Inquiry will say.
Well I must ask what was the destroyer doing if a 29,000 tonne sea slug was overtaking it!
How does one miss a ship that size it would have towered over the Fitzgerald was there any ambient light from the moon.
Do warships in time of peace have to display their running lights, or are they exempt due to the very nature of the business they conduct with having the latest gizmo's to track other craft and being able to avoid them. TIA
From another board , make no claims as to the truthfulness .
Crystal was running without lights and with an unmanned bridge .
Is this even possible ?
Chris
Movement of the ACX Crystal,
I came across this video from Vessel Finder.
Makes it appear that the Crystal was trolling around for a target.
Comments are.... interesting.
The latest info is that ACX Crystal was on autopilot and the bridge was unmanned. They didn't even know they'd had an impact until approximately fifteen minutes later.
PM
Originally Posted by AZshot
