Navy Report Released on Near-Miss Between USS Harpers Ferry and Momsen

on today's episode of what's going on with shipping the Navy releases the report in the near collision between USS Harpers Ferry and momson in San Diego Harbor back in November and at the same time they cut the feed to the camera that recorded the incident I'm your host Sal mercagliano welcome to today's episode so a lot to cover we're gonna break down the report I printed it off last night looked at it went through it and we're going to break down the report piece by piece while superimposing the video of this event which as I mentioned previously has been cut by the Navy criminal investigative service Gibbs what is wrong with you guys why are you cutting the feed of San Diego webcams we're going to talk about that too in a second if you're new to the channel hey take a moment subscribe to the channel hit the Bell so you'll be alerted about new videos as they come out all right let's find out why first the San Diego webcam view has been cut Barry called the National Park Service which helped install the camera 10 years ago at first Barry says he was told it was an internet issue that's just complete nonsense Barry says donors pay for the camera's internet service then he says he was led to believe it was a security issue with all the navy bases surrounding the monument anybody can see anything here for 25 cents the park service will sell you a binocular to look around and see much more than we ever show the San Diego webcam even purposely blocks Naval Base Point Loma when it's in frame our viewers our supporters are all Navy families we all want to keep our military safe Barry says the National Park Service finally told them the Park Service disconnected the cameras By Request of NCIS Naval criminal Investigative Services and NCIS spokesman says NCIS recently expressed Force protection concerns to the National Park Service related to the privately owned webcams ultimately the decision to remove the webcams was made by the National Park Service Barry thinks he's being punished the only thing that comes back to me is the warship chicken incident okay can I be clear for a second number one that is pure BS the cameras this is one camera Barry has a half a dozen of these cameras mounted throughout San Diego bag not to mention the fact there are other sites you can go to let alone have a ring door camera mounted on your car on your house that looks over the bay where you get this same information uh this is not releasing sensitive opsec security information he is filming Ships coming to and from and as he mentioned purposely blocks out certain images like the submarine base so that that can't be portrayed if you're sitting there in San Diego you see the comings and goings of ships all the time it's announced on the news there are sites you can go to at vessel departures this is a ridiculous effort and to have the NCIS again Gibbs what are you doing have them cut the feed of the camera the day before you release the report on The Incident That's filmed by the camera is I I I don't know who's doing public affairs over there but this is a good case of how not to do it this is really bad when you do this so anyway I I wanted to get that out of the way first all right let's take a look at this story about the Harpers Ferry and the momson so here's the story over at usni news Sam lagrone did a great story really extensive in depth if you want your copy of the report you can go over to usni news and they have the link there so you can download it the title of the of the article Swift actions by Junior officers prevented warship Collision in San Diego Harbor this is the full report I'll be referencing during the video so I'll have it down below here as I have the video from San Diego webcam showing you as close as I could sync together the actions while providing my narrative all right let's go ahead and jump into this in summary the investigation concludes that the near Miss was a result of number one a failure by momson momson is the Destroyer here that's momson right here her Stern is to you turning the port right there failure by momson to adhere to procedures maintaining a proper watch on bridge to bridge as it pertains to the Tactical communication Precision uh position so this is basically monitoring Channel 16 and 14 in the transit of the vessels number two failure by momson to maintain a proper watch on bridge to bridge number three failure by Harpers Ferry Harpers Ferry is the big LSD that's coming towards you in this image and momson to communicate via secondary communication and channels so Communications is the big issue here for failure by Harpers Ferry to adhere to proper Bridge resource movements number five and six we have no idea because they have redacted a ridiculous amount of information in this report I'm not kidding I'm going to highlight to you what they redacted everything including course and speed of the vessels is redacted what the frick for I have no idea but they did all right continuing on with the report number seven failure by Harpers Ferry and momson combat information centers to provide proper backup to the pilot house all right let's go down here a little further three major events prevented a near Miss uh from being a collision so this is the real key here so these are the three things that they identified that prevented these two ships from coming into contact with each other number one decisive action taken by the momson's commanding officer to maneuver the port so the Momsen's uh commanding officer Commander Eric Roberts was identified as being one of the key elements here for doing this number two the officer of the deck not the commanding officer the officer of the deck is the officer who has the watch on the bridge the officer deck on board Harpers Ferry assuming cunning officer position and maneuvering Deport when he felt the point of extremis was reached the amount of confusion that took place on the bridge of the Harpers Ferry is out of control insane I'm telling you it is there's a there's something called Bridge resource manage where you're supposed to use the resources of the bridge to control information and make decisions that did not seem to exist on board the Harpers Ferry don't take my word for it I'm going to read you the sections from the report number three the decision by both the mumps and CEO and Harper's Ferry Ood do shift Rudders at approximately the same time to complete a successful maneuver to Safe Waters those three points are what prevent this Collision from happening so I'm going to have the San Diego webcam video play in the background I haven't muted uh there is audio on it but the audio is not synced to the video so you'll hear things that aren't quite in sync and again it's not important for us to hear the video because I'm going to be reading here from the report and I'll be showing you things and keying them up as they go in so the ship you're seeing here is you as a Tripoli this is an lhd that was coming into the harbor prior to the momson and it's going to pass Harper's Ferry so uh at 8 30 momson is underway and at C anchor detail set for entry into San Diego Harbor at 9 11 and you'll see this is at uh uh 1008 this is a little bit different this is later in the day here Harpers Ferry gets underway from San Diego navy base uh having said its anchor detail come on down here between 9 11 and 1009 this is right when this video is kicking in here Harpers Ferry made various course and speed changes in support of the departure Harper Ferry Maneuvers outside blank the Navy Station North Island carrier Piers to provide more sea room to USS Tripoli so Tripoli is the vessel there going to the right the Harpers Ferry is heading outbound so that is Tripoli coming inbound here and the ships will render honors to each other so that is being done meanwhile this is here you see Harpers Ferry passing the Tripoli right here at 10 coming up on 09. uh momson prepares to render honors to uh Harpers Ferry due to embarked a commander amphibious Squadron five at 1009 Harpers Ferry came left to course 225 and rendered honors to Tripoli this is syncing up right now in the video so that you can see it after Harper's Ferry renders honors to Tripoli the Harpers Ferry XO spent most of the remaining Transit observing watch standards clearing Bridge wings while he remembered many of the actions discussed related to the events he did not recount many in interactions with Harper's Ferry CEO at 10 12 a few minutes after this Harper Ferry arranged a port-a port passage with Momsen so let me hold this for a second here so Port the port uh the looking forward on a vessel the left side of the vessel is the port side so what you're seeing right here is Harpers Ferry that's this vessel right here passing Tripoli that's a port to port passage the Harpers Ferry is in the right side of the channel the outside of the channel hitting outbound much like you drive your car you'd be in the right side of the channel Tripoli is inbound it is in the inbound Channel it is on the right side of its Channel and then just like you do with cars you'd pass Port the port left side the left side plus you have these buoys here the buoys are going to be what keeps you in the channel red buoys for a ship coming in are going to be on the right side going out of the channel the green buoys will be on your right side so it's red right returning that's always the the statement that you'll talk about so at 10 12 Harpers Ferry arranges a port to port passage with Momsen so they're talking over the bridge to radios at 10 15 momson established communication with San Diego tractor 7 to arrange receipt of a tug and pilot alongside so you'll see these orange and yellow tugboats small boats those are the tractors uh no further communication are recorded uh no further communication recorded until approximately 10 19. uh it goes on here uh momson watch standards believe they shifted back this is their radios following communication with the tractor tug so three minutes before this photograph of this video was taken Harpers Ferry and momson are already talking to each other so here is momson heading into the channel here is North Island the U.S base with aircraft with uh aircraft airfields here here is the USS Chaffee she is tied up at the birth at the ammunition pier and here is Mom's excuse me Harpers Ferry outbound and you'll see them coming to make the turn it's hard to identify the buoys at this time because they kind of blend in this is uh C tractor seven this is the tractor that momson has communicated with to arrange for the boarding of a pilot and the pilot is necessary for docking at Navy Station San Diego so once again we have Harpers Ferry outbound momson inbound at the time they have a range for a port the port passage meaning that basically Harpers Ferry will stay to the outside of the channel and come this way momson will stay to the inside of the channel and go that way the problem is they're picking up a pilot at a very poor spot to Embark a pilot on board so this is a chart of the area this is Marine ways that show it I'll show you the charts so here are the peers at the naval station so for example Harpers Ferry has backed out of the pier gone under the Coronado Bridge off the carrier Midway around North Island and is coming out the fish hook here heading out meanwhile the momson is coming up the channel this way and where they're going to meet is in this terrible spot I mean you could not pick a worse spot to meet but between these three buoys right here that's what's called the triangle and this is a very tough spot to meet so down here this is the ammo Pier right here you can see it right here the fuel Pier is on this side and the triangle is formed by these buoys two red buoys buoy 16 and 16a and outbound Green buoy 14. so it's a little wider here now San Diego does not have a vessel traffic scheme at all all so there's not set Lanes to be in and the port control doesn't really control where vessels are are at so they're going to meet in this area which again just the if you're going to pick a spot to meet that's not the one to meet so again we have a 10 1505 momson establishes communication with San Diego tractor 7 to arrange receipt of a tug and pilot alongside bow at five knots by a Harpers Ferry VMS tractor 7 is approaching the starboard bow of Momsen for pilot embarkation so that's at 10 16. go ahead and let that play so that you can see it they change this view here a little bit but it'll come back to the the main view here in a second while this is going on on the bridge of Harpers Ferry the commanding officer approaches the Navigator now Navigator is a position held by an officer on board the Navigator is not navigating The Vessel this is the Ood the officer of the deck is navigating The Vessel but in the meantime the the co commanding officer approaches the Navigator and this is what it says right here approaches the Navigator the chart table and informed her of his desire to remain on the right side of the channel to give plenty of C room to Momsen Harpers Ferry Navigator was previously unaware of the poor to Port passing Arrangement so the Navigator is not informed of this but this seems pretty standard you want to stay on the far right side as you approach at nearly the same time that we're seeing here USS Gridley another uh Destroyer made something informing all San Diego traffic that are Eastbound in the inbound traffic separation scheme to Navy station uh North Island so the Gridley another Destroyer is coming in at the same time probably behind momson coming in go on here based on the reciprocal Voyage plans and timing Harpers Ferry and momson are projected to meet in the most dangerous portion of the San Diego Harbor narrow channel an area San Diego Pilots call the triangle that's the area I just showed you at 10 17 and 58 seconds momson is on course we don't know because that's important to be redacted at a speed of again redacted don't know why and is I to the right of track distance to turn who knows tractor sevens AIS symbology is alongside Momsen so the tractor has now come outside you can't see it what you can see very faintly is a red buoy right here at the bow so it's kind of hugging the channel right here there's another red buoy right here and so momson would want to be close to those red buoys which means momson is going to have to start making a turn soon I'm gonna pause this for a second momson's gonna have to start making her turn to starboard here soon to stay close to the buoys meanwhile Harpers Ferry should be making a wider turn there's an issue here that's not mentioned in the report I think is very important at the time because again it may be in here but it may be redacted The Tide is coming in so the tide is coming in which is going to push moms in and it's going to push Harpers Ferry and so Harpers Ferry wants to cut in a little bit closer than it normally would it's kind of broadside to the current here and it's worried about getting pushed to the outside of the channel and all of this is going to start causing problems because at this time we start seeing a lot of things happen at 10 18 the San Diego pilot has embarked Momsen at 1018 Harpers Ferry Bridge becomes confused of momson's intentions based on the following observations of tugs in the vicinity of Momsen plus Gridley coming in is causing more issues because they think it may be going to the fuel form so the lack of awareness that momson's taking a pilot momson with the tug alongside can't alt a course you can't come to the right with that tug alongside and that's causing problems Harper's ferries confusion leads to Harper Ferry to initiate something subsequently the Ood and o d under training retry I'm going to say try to contact them but they obviously didn't do it now under Harper's Ferry standing orders the cic's watch officer's responsibility for navigation or to provide the OD with the best possible navigation support using all cic capabilities so the Harpers Ferry OD should be funneled information from the cic at 10 18 just before this during the turn Harper's Ferry Navigator asked for verification from the Harpers Ferry Co regarding his desire to be right during the completion of the turn and to maneuver to the starboard side of the channel Harpers Ferry CEO stated he wanted to see what momson was going to do first okay this should have been articulated before supposedly it was there was a previous agreement they're going to do a port to port passage but right now momson is just clearing the tug you can see the tug leaving its side right here so they've just cleared the tug meaning now momson is free to turn what momson is going to do is turn hard right hug this red buoy right here and get between the Harpers Ferry and the buoy now momson's a destroyer much more maneuverable than Harpers Ferry Harpers Ferry is kind of a lumbering ship with steam propulsion nowhere near as maneuverable as a destroyer with LM 2500 gas turbines and and controllable pitch propellers but as we're going to see this is going to get a little bit out of control pretty quick so let's get ourselves caught up here on our narrative so at 10 20 a 10 18 momson is cast off the tug they're continuing to move toward the center of the channel uh during the turn before ending up VMS depicted to turn to starboard at a rate again for some reason we can't know this near red buoy 14 off the starboard bow at 10 18 and 29 seconds Harpers Ferry was continuing their poor turn pass course whatever with red buoy 16a off their port quarter so here you can see the one buoy sticking up right here and again we're seeing this turn already being executed at 10 19 and 3 seconds Harpers Ferry Co directs that the Harpers Ferry conning officer to order all back one-third rightful Rudder okay stop right here when you're moving forward on a ship and you have the propellers spinning forward you have control of the vessel you can maneuver The Vessel yes you're moving forward but you can turn that vessel left or right once you order the engines a Stern you're going to create turbulence and that turbulence creates air bubbles and air bubbles by the rudder means you have no control and you're going to lose control so he is ordering understand back one-third or rightful Runner now Wright means he's trying to swing the ship this way out into the channel and this is I I gotta say this is the bad move right here this is the bad move and it is confirmed by 0.36 here Harpers Ferry Co believed in hinsa in hindsight the rightful Rudder was not the correct order to make I would argue the back one-third also was a incorrect order to make all right we're getting in sync with the video here at 10 19 13 seconds momson's rate of turn is now again ship's heading has continued right but has only moved approximately blank in the last 30 seconds this is largely due to the fact that it just kicked the tug off and it's not going at a big speed right now going on here at 10 19 and 14 seconds so we're almost in sync here uh Harpers Ferry is continuing the port Mom since AAS track indicates the ship is north of rb14 this is red buoy 14 and green buoy 15 and continuing to close the middle of the channel so to put that into context right here here is red buoy 14 right here here is green buoy 15 this is red buoy 16 up here so these are the buoys that are in place Harpers Ferry is just making its turn around and momson has just passed these two buoys but the problem is momson was still on the course to pick up the pilot and is actually Crossing in front of the path of Harper's Ferry it doesn't appear at least on Harper's Ferry that momson is making its turn so we talked about the breakdown of bridge Resource Management here it comes Harpers Ferry Ood and Navigator expressing disagreement throughout the next several Rudder and speed changes in which the co changes his mind came to all stop then ordered back one-third again Harpers Ferry Khan receives orders from Harpers Ferry Co Ood and Navigator Harpers Ferry conning becomes confused with what to take or who to take orders from wow that is the worst case scenario right there you have somebody on the helm who now doesn't know who to listen to whose order do I take uh one person is supposed to be ordering Helm orders and now what you have is a situation where this is kind of spiraling out of control and based on the interviewer interviews show that this time there was disagreement and confusion on the bridge interviews showed that harpistry CEO gave orders to increase decision space Harpers Ferry's standing orders do not specifically address Communications from nav to the con Harpers Ferry CEO stated he knew that kohlrags rule 34 to sound five short blasts applied but did not believe there was time enough to sound so these ships are operating under rules of the road and the rules of the road that apply here are the collar eggs and in the case of rule 34 there is a provision and it says it right here and in section D specifically when vessels are inside of one another are approaching each other and from any cause either vessel fails to understand the intentions or actions of the other or is in doubt whether sufficient action is being taken by the other to avoid conclusion The Vessel endowed shall immediately indicate such doubt by giving at least five short and Rapid blasts on the whistle such signal may be supplemented by a light or at least five short and Rapid flashes at this point they should have sounded the horns because it is clear that there's confusion here the Harpers Ferry thinks momson is turning right to pass him in it doesn't indicate it's turning right it doesn't look like it's turning right matter of fact momson looks like it's heading for the fuel piers and that's stated here in the report uh right here at number 44. and with this doubt Harpers Ferry should have sat there and say what are you doing the five short is meant to say what are you doing and then you can get on the radio the VHF bridge to Bridge and talk to each other and iron it out but this would give everybody the indication that I have doubt about your movements and I I don't buy the fact that they said there wasn't enough time there's always enough time will it cause confusion perhaps this was a statement made by the pilot but I think it needs to be stated that there is a problem here in this situation all right going on with it here uh Harpers Ferry was limited in maneuvering uh maneuver to Port due to the proximity of red buoy 16 on the port beam Harbors Ferry Navigator states that the navigational draft measured to the deepest projection again this has to do with the vessel going out of the channel uh momson Bridge was unaware of the concern on the bridge of Harpers Ferry perhaps if you blew the whistle you would know and continue their trabs had planned tractor 7 is alongside and the pile is embarking the co moved to the starboard Bridge Wing so now you see Momsen making that turn with the intention to go between Harpers Ferry and the red buoy you can clearly see both red buoys here now and the tractor tug clear momson is turning the problem is Harper's Ferry is turning into the turn and actually going to cut them off so you have a position here where they're going bow to bow and let's go ahead down here number 52. uh moms and CEO discusses the position of Harpers Ferry in the Channel with his Bridge team and believes them to be in the middle of the channel and continuing left momson Co doubted Harper's Ferry maneuvering intentions momson's Navigator recommends to momson co to sound 5 blast everybody's not sure what the hell everybody's doing here and the universal single for that is five short on the horn what are you doing get on the radio let's figure this out while maneuvering intentions are in doubt rule 34 applies it does uh momson Co declines to sound five short blasts because he thought it would add to the confusion of the situation especially given the decreasing range between the two ships and maneuvering that might occur after sending it moms and CEO is afraid Harpers Ferry would come right at the precise moment he was coming left so momson's coming right he's worried that Harpers Ferry is going to turn into him which is basically what is happening here one of the reasons you don't like to sound Five Short in the harbor is it indicates there's a problem and everybody looks and that's also the reason I think they cut the feed here is because that's the same thing so momson's OD directed The tacom the Tactical officer to contact the Harpers Ferry on the VHF it's about the time the Momsen CEO attempted to clarify the agreed position so let's go ahead and get us going so in 1919 10 19 and 58 seconds just about where we're at here momson had almost completed the turn is continuing its starboard uh uh passage so again it's or starboard I guess turn it's supposed to be going port to port however is now on track in Harpers Ferry via the SBS is again I don't know why they don't have the ranges here it's just stupid here at 10 20 let's get the video going so we're at that point 10 20 and 15 seconds Harpers Ferry attempts to State maneuvering intentions to momson but stops before commuting completing the communication there is an audio here again not in sync where they both come up on the radio mobs and CEO States the bridge of bridge that he's coming to port and directs the Momsen Khan to order a hard left Rudder so monson's gonna go hard left he realizes he can't go between the Harpers Ferry and the red buoy and at this time we already know that Harpers Ferry is backing down States uh over the bridge bridge he's coming to Port directs the hard left when asked if he agreed with the momson co decision not sound five blast pilot concurs as likely would have caused confusion goes on here Harpers Ferry Junior officer deck stated that the officer of the deck Navigator and Co were giving various orders and the con did not seem to respond well to all the various directions the jod believed the Khan was trying to figure out whose order to follow goes on here and it talks a little bit about standing orders about who she did and it says on the Harpers Ferry that standing order State the OD she'll ensure no one speaks with the Helmsman except the con and that communication between the Khan and the Helmsman is the most important conversation to uh on the bridge at this point the momson XO I'm gonna assume runs to the disengage side because they're turning left to make sure there's nobody bearing down on them at 10 20 and 29 seconds Harpers Ferry is turning to starboard uh goes on here a late entry at 10 20 shows that Harpers Ferry OD took the con and maneuvered left full Rudder so before we were backing down one third with rightful Rudder now this junior officer this Ood probably a lieutenant I don't know we don't know because they again reject all the names took the con and managed leftful Rudder and sounded too short blasts twice Too Short blast you ask well let's go to the call wreck too short blasts do you mean I am altering course to Port so listen if you're not on the VHF radio if you don't get your hand to handheld radio if you're not on the bridge radios and again there should be more than enough Bridge radios to be covering all the channels you need you should be communicating Bridge the bridge with these ships but again we're back to whistles and again I don't understand why these whistles are good but not the five short so now you sound to Too Short Harpers Ferry OD was unaware of the actions momson was taking he then moved to the bridge wing and answered momson's bridge to bridge call stating is maneuvering intentions and continue to maneuver Harvard Ferry clear of danger this is I I'm not gonna lie this gets me very exasperated because this should not have gotten to this point to happen uh go on here down this at 10 20 and 42 seconds Harper's Ferry orders all engines ahead one-third shortly there after the two-thirds uh the reason they're kicking the engines ahead is it gives you more maneuverability when the co ordered back he created that disruption now you need to get water under the bow and you can see it here you can actually see the Wake kicking up a bit on Harpers Ferry as it begins the turn goes on here at 10 29. excuse me at 10 20 42 seconds you get that order in uh it goes on here it says at 10 29 and 58 seconds I think it's 10 20. I think it's a typo mama momson is maneuvering to poor at 10 20 59 Harpers Ferry is turning to port and it's at this moment by the way I I don't even know how to put this one in here because when I read this report I did a whole series of videos on the Bonham Richard fire and I'll have the links up there uh when I read that report I was like man every time I thought something bad couldn't go wrong more it did so right here in Harpers Ferry cic this is the command and information center not the bridge but this is down in the vessel a Class C electrical fire starts and the sps-67 and 73 radar feeds to the cic are lost these are the surface search Radars these are the surface search so this doesn't impair the ability to maneuver but basically the cic goes blind and navy ships rely on the CBC cic as a backup the class C fire was a blown breaker so not a full-blown huge fire but it's a fire nonetheless and was logged at 1024 throughout the rest of the transit cic is not able to provide any navigation or contact management support at 1021 momson orders hard right Rudder and the reason you go hard right Rudder is because now they're careening out of the channel and so they got to get themselves back into the channel at 10 21 Harpers Ferry maneuvered hard right Rudder and it's going hard right to get itself back in the channel you can see the the newest red buoy popping up here they're trying to stay in the channel and at 1021 Harpers Ferry maneuvered hard right router to course uh it goes on here both vessels completed a safe passage the closest point of approach we don't know I'm gonna say it's fairly close uh but again it's all redacted and then my favorite points right here at 1426 four photos of the near Collision are posted on the Twitter account at warship.com worship cam showing the encounter of the channel later on 30 November 2022 a 30 minute video was posted on YouTube showing the encounter with Associated VHF audio that video is this video right here done by San Diego webcam that allows us to discuss this today which NCIS had the National Park Service pull the plug on so I want to highlight just a couple of things from the opinions here of the report this is the opinion section and this is the section that deals with actions in the Pilot House and cic of Harpers Ferry first off not all members of the Harpers Ferry Bridge and CIT teams were fully qualified to stand there watch I thought we learned this with McCain and Fitzgerald but obviously not uh there was a distraction with rendering Honors that should not have been a major distraction at all the Harpers Ferry Navigator took prudent steps to verify CO's intention to remain right in the channel uh the Harvard Ferry likely turned too early or did not adjust their their return to the right of the track I think that's true Harpers Ferry did not maneuver to support a port to port passage although the Harpers Ferry CEO failed to take into consideration the different times Harper's very momson were executing their turns and how they might look visually from his perspective is clear that the mobs and Target angle indicated mumps it was not maneuvering as previously agreed upon goes on here Harper's Ferry decision to slow during the turn to 197. hey of course we got a chorus I don't think we've violated National Security on the triangle leg may have reduced the maneuverability of the ship but provided more decision space to the co because the Harpers Ferry Co previously abandoned the idea that momson was maneuvering the starboard to set up upon agreed upon port to port passage he was slow to see momson's orders were taking effect and the ship was swinging the starboard momson swung late they should have articulated that hey got the pilot on board we're going to be swinging late but we still want to do a port-a-port passage by that time Harpers Ferry was already out of position to effectively conduct agreed upon port to port passage momson was 875 yards away the Harvard CEO believed that the gridley's uh security call in addition to monson's Target angle made him question whether momson was heading to the naval fuel form I don't understand that but that's what he understood even though usn is Guadalupe was at the fuel Farm Harpers Ferry Co insufficiently conveyed his overall thoughts to the bridge team and did not practice good Resource Bridge a good Bridge Resource Management no kidding no kidding that's the understatement of this report right here poor Bridge Resource Management led to confusion in the Pilot House in the critical moments when the Harpers very Co OD and nav were navigating we're all giving directions to the con it is clear the situation overwhelmed the con and she was no longer able to effectively execute her duties going on here in these moments of confusion the CEO should have forcibly provided direction to his Bridge team and re-establish proper Bridge Resource Management however he did not based on my interview the Hartford Harper's Ferry CEO desired to come to the right solution to get his ship out of danger well yeah he had two solid watch standards in his OD and Navigator but failed to see the confusion the discussion was causing the orders by the CEO to go all back one-third during his poor turn and then Rudder Wright full reduces maneuverability when he needed it the most subsequently his decision to all stop further reduce maneuverability these actions show the Harpers Ferry Co struggled in that moment to arrive upon the right solution to get Harper's Ferry out of danger the period of indecision lasted for almost one minute and the rate of closure was about 333 yards every minute uh Harper was very EXO did not provide adequate forceful back up to the CEO Harpers Ferry Ood at the critical moment recognize that the co is not taking effective action to prevent Collision believing that he had the best situational awareness and took proactive and effective action when he took the con I want to give that person a handshake a freaking thumbs up whoever that OD was you reacted and took decisive results that probably got you a terrible fit rep for making the co look bad but you took the action necessary I don't know if it's a he her I don't know but whoever it was great job you deserve a freaking metal promotion early command like the key to the city I don't know but you need should be getting something Beyond probably a reprimand which is probably what's going to happen his decision okay so he was an incredibly Brave One the correct one and was the second critical step that prevented Collision that day the forceful backup provided by the Harpers Ferry nav and OD was exactly the type of support they should have provided to their Co and is an affirmation of the Harper Ferry's Bridge team emphasis on training and the robust changes made in surface Navy OD trading since the events of Fitzgerald and Janice McCain okay let's go back for a second and talk about the near Collision here with Momsen not communicating the delay in making their turn due to the tug alongside and embarking the pilot in the worst spot possible or the the CEO of Harpers Ferry making the bone-headed move to turn the wrong way and back the engines down uh and then they say Harpers Ferry cic did not provide adequate support okay on the momson not all members of the momson bridge and CI team cic team were qualified to stay on their watch this is happening way too much uh goes on here the decision to take the pilot in the vicinity of Bowie's 14 15 restricted momson's turn to starboard during a critical period when momson should have been free to maneuver the CEO should have delayed the pilot until after the P Port the port passage I agree entirely I also don't see in this report anywhere whether they had to get that tug loose to race back and help doc Tripoli because there's a finite number of tugs in the harbor and so they may have been pushing them to get that pilot off momson's CEO's quick decision in order to turn to Port was the first critical step that avoided Collision again the other step there was the action by the Ood on board Harpers Ferry and then both vessels agreeing to that momson's CAC situational awareness during the moment before the CEO decided to turn to Port was low the bridge team did a poor job of keeping cic appraised I I don't agree with the way the Navy does the bridge and cic cic should be an adjunct to the bridge you should not be reporting the cic anything momson Co decision to shift his Rudder approximately the same time as Harper's Ferry OD was the fourth and final critical step well time and executed necessary to prevent Collision it took approximately 90 seconds for momson's actions to revolt result in a safe passage both units likely need to take action to avoid Collision all right long video I apologize let's summarize this I think number one there were faults on each side obviously number one proper bridge in watch standards need to be certified to be up there number two they had an agreement they were going to do a port to port Passage that was the agreed thing both vessels in my opinion made mistakes Harpers Ferry hugging too close to the outbound side they did not give Momsen enough room between the red buoy and Harpers Ferry they turned early all of that was a problem momson at the same time decided to take the pilot on board and holding their course cutting across the bow of Harpers Ferry created the doubt are you turning are you going to take a port to port passage because it looks like you're coming down my starboard side all of that all of that could have been resolved by picking up the radio and saying hello we're shifting let's do a star but the starboard passage which is completely legal you can do that hey mom said I see you have a tug alongside why don't you go to the outbound side the starboard side we'll do a star with the starboard passage boom this never makes the news whatsoever however what happens here is momson clears the pilot makes the turn Harper's Ferry starts making its turn and now you're in a point of extremis this is when Harpers Ferry and momson should have been sounding Five Short whistle glass letting everybody know there's doubt let's figure this out you have the co ckermanning the Ood creating confusion on the bridge of Harpers Ferry ordering back throwing the rudder around and that is the worst scenario right there so if there's more blame on this it goes and goes to Harpers Ferry for that confusion up on the bridge but then you have that Moment of clarity where Harpers Ferry Ood and momson Co sits there and say all right we're going to take action let's take action let's do the star of the starboard passage Harpers Ferry kick your engines ahead go Port we'll come down your starboard side I'm in the Destroyer the Corvette of these two ships I'm going to put my throttles down I'm gonna go hard left and we'll do a star for the starboard passage understand this is not trying to blame anybody I am not focusing all right I don't blame one person CEO of Harpers Ferry that cluster shouldn't have happened but you need to learn from these accidents you need to learn from these incidents and let me be clear this report is great for that but what makes this even more a powerful tool is that video and the fact that the NCIS in San Diego pressured the National Park Service to pull the plug on that a day before the report comes out that's a batch of crap I'm sorry I am sorry this is not force protection at all if you don't think the Chinese the Russians have a house set up in San Diego Harbor watching every ship that comes out let alone every other webcam that's across San Diego and knowing what ships are coming in and out you're nuts if you think that the only source of information they have is that webcam at Point Loma in the national park and now by you cutting the internet to it you have solved it so crazy so crazy all right I'm going to follow up with this with a video that looks more at the recommendations and what we learned from this but overall I think this is a really interesting event that transpired I hope you enjoyed today's video listen I don't think I got everything 100 right probably in this video and I'm sure there's a lot of comments that you want to make hey be constructive and give comments if you want to call me BS that's fine too I don't care you're not going to hurt my feelings I'm a tenured professor feel free and comment below but if you can subscribe to the channel hit the Bell so you'll learn about new videos as they come out leave that comment give it a thumbs up no thumbs down thumbs up is what we want share it across social media and if you can support the page how do you support the page well you can hit that super thanks button down below and contribute directly to the page or head on over to patreon and become a patron of the page or you know what else you can do you can head over to San Diego webcams and support them give them some money so that they can get a new camera set up so you'll have those great views of Ships coming in and out of San Diego Harbor so that family members of ships deploying can see their loved ones leaving and coming back if they can't be there in San Diego until the next video this is Sal signing off Ahoy

Channel: What is Going on With Shipping?

Views: 129,994

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Id: aFcaTHENsbo

Length: 44min 59sec (2699 seconds)

Published: Tue Apr 18 2023