Strange
A vessel like that can do 90 deg in 30 seconds

“There was a conversation over the net between the bridge and the TAO about a possibly (sic) contact not under command in front of us”

If this is true then the Porter is completely at fault. That’s right the tanker is blameless. When a vessel announces that they are Not Under Command all other vessels are to steer clear. A vessel Not under command has the right of way above all other vessels. As for not seeing the tanker I ain’t buying it. The radar on the standard navy vessel is the best in the world. They monitor them in the CIC and also a separate radar watch by the Quartermasters. Not to mention all vessels in the area are designated as contacts and given a number. They are tracked and there course speed and closes point of approach is plotted and displayed for the Operations boss to see and sent to the bridge for the Conning officer to see. The contacts that are close enough to approach the Porter are also tracked by the quartermaster, and the plots are kept up to date, on the chart table. Besides that even if the Porter didn’t know where the tanker was, and she announced she was not under command the Ported should have come to bare steerage until she found the tanker and had a plot on the TANKER NOT UNDER COMMAND IN HER AREA!!!! NOT CHANGE COURSE BOTH PORT AND STARBORD AT SPEED, THEN SLOW. All course changes in international waters are to be clear in their intent. My guess is the Conning Officer screwed up big time. He prolly lost track of where the tanker was, and turned toward it then, he freaked out and tried to make some distance, then he came to steerage speed, to figure out what he was doing wrong and hoping like hell no one found out he screwed up. But by then it was too late. Just my opinion.

I'm pretty sure the NUC they're talking about was a third vessel that both the Tanker and PORTER had to avoid... the next sentence after the one you quote is (emphasis added):

Quote:

We avoided that contact, checked the radar and didn't have much.

Note the past tense.

ETA: I know they end up encountering it again, and then say they thought they were clear of the NUC.. at best it's ambiguous to me that the Tanker and the NUC are one and the same.. some analysis of the AIS data available that was done seems to indicate they weren't.

WTF is a vessel "not under command"?

Is that a nautical equivalent of a "car without a driver" rolling down a highway?

I see your point thanks for clearing that up, however , that doesn’t change the fact the conning officer screwed up big time. His course changes still don’t make sense. He obviously lost track of the situation.
Also what we are not discussing is the Porter is a US NAVAL vessel, she is required to protect herself from all threats. She should have never been in the position to be rammed.

A vessel not under command is a vessel that is suffering from a mechanical difficulty and cannot steer.
They will display two red lights one over the other at night to let other vessels know to steer clear.
There is an old saying Red over Red the pilot is dead.

@Peterm99: More like a semi whose brakes have given out rolling down the highway.

Thanks for the explanations.

I was under the impression that even without a working rudder mechanism, steering any multi-screw vessel is not that difficult (although less effective than with a rudder) using differential screw control. Is this not correct?

Yes and no, the twin screws with variable pitch are great for maneuvering at clutch speed. And are great for tightening turns with the help of the rudder. But once you get all that tonnage underway at any real speed, physics takes the front seat. If you try to increase the rpm’s and the pitch to overcome the unstoppable, you will just cavatate, I mean air will surround the prop and you get little bang for the buck. Even if you managed to change the aspect of the bow, advance and transfer is a bitch and will eat your lunch. What I mean is the large tanker will still go straight regardless of where the bow is pointed without the rudder.

Peter

Tankers have no keel to steer them once the bow comes around