In any case, all of this is a good thing for failing to openly and honestly explain what happened in broad strokes before the “system” grasped the story and stepped back to establish the details through investigation. This is an example. These two are not contradictory. The stereotype that “you have to wait for the report” is becoming less and less valid these days.
However, this article is not really here to criticize the flow of information after an incident, but rather to explain why ships are still colliding with each other in 2024.
Ship operation is a special combination of science and art. Science allows us to understand the characteristics of ships, which vary greatly from class to class.
I was fortunate enough to command four warships. Fisheries Protection Vessel (1200 tonnes, heavy steel hull, single variable pitch propeller, no bow thruster), Hunt class (600 tonnes, GRP hull, twin fixed pitch screws), assigned to patrol duty in Northern Ireland, single bow Thrusters – same class as HMS Chiddingfold), icebreakers (7000 tonnes, heavy steel, single controllable pitch screw, bow and stern thrusters), and frigates (5000 tonnes, light steel, twin fixed pitch screws – large quantities output) but without the bow thruster).
Needless to say, they all had very different operating characteristics and required great care, especially when berthing and leaving in bad weather.
The two civilian-built fishing boats and icebreakers were fun to drive, primarily because they had thicker hulls and could take impacts without damage. Warship design is a trade-off between protection, speed, and maneuverability, and in recent decades ships have traded hull thickness for agility and speed, making them particularly vulnerable to low-speed impacts. The days when warships had hulls with thick armor are long gone.
An interesting aside is made about how wise this is, given that some merchant ships effectively repelled missile attacks in the Red Sea. We’ll talk about that another time, but what you need to remember is that just because a ship is a warship doesn’t mean it’s powerful.