"Diamond Jim" wrote:

I was at the local Naval Hospital last Friday and as I was waiting for my
appointment I started to look at a recent copy of the Navy Times that
another retired old fart set down. I only looked at it for about 15 seconds
before I was called but, what I read said that the Dhow or whatever it was
had been spotted and watched for a fairly long time.

So it wasn't a surprise "Where did that SOB come from!" type of thing.

Which would appear to be even more damning for the JFK skipper.
If his bridge crew, et al, were aware of it and "watch[ing] it
for a fairly long time", HITH did they manage to run into it?

I don't know if the JFK was at Flight Quarters, or what but if they were the
JFK CO should have had one of the escorts shoulder the Dhow out of the way.
Maybe the escorts have forgotten how to perform this maneuver since the cold
war ended and they can't practice with the ruskie trawlers. Somehow I have
gotten the impression from what others have said, what was on the news and
in the papers, that the JFK CO, was depending on his having the right of
way.

But come to think of it (I wasn't a Black Shoe so I don't know) but doesn't
a vessel under sail have the right of way over any powered vessel?

Right of way questions, at sea or on shore, are a moot question
after the fact - except for questions about who to hang. As many
pedestrians learn every year, asserting one's right of way
against an oncoming compact, much less an SUV, is even worse than
a zero-sum game, the pedestrian is going to lose 100% of the
time. Several Chesapeake day-sailers over the years have fallen
afoul of the same thing, as they asserted their right of way over
a freighter inbound to or outbound from Bawlamer.

Still, whether or not the dhow had the right of way under the
circumstances, doesn't really matter. Last I heard the USN
frowns on its captains running into anything with their ship.
Particularly if that "anything" has been under observation for
quite a bit of time.
--
OJ III
[Email to Yahoo address may be burned before reading.
Lower and crunch the sig and you'll net me at comcast.]