Dismasted by an aircraft carrier

[hzcruiser]

Originally Posted by goboatingnow

The sailboat skipper was completely in the wrong. Warships have exclusion zones. If they had detected him they probably would have fired on him !!

Bulldust... as if a warship sailing at 10kn or faster would fire on everything that comes up in its path.... "Exclusion zone" around a fast moving vessel, exactly...

[Stewie12]

He was not on watch and probably had not been for some time or he would have seen the Carrie.. Too much reliance on radar watch may also be his problem.

[EmeraldCoastSailor]

What happened captain? "An aircraft carrier snuck up on me." Those pesky sneaky aircraft carriers!

[Siberian Sea]

Aircraft carriers take half the ocean to turn and the other half to stop. I’m not a sea lawyer or anything but given the large size of this ship I would have to imagine the skipper of the sailboat was not keeping proper watch and blundered into the way. Well no matter, without doubt on that day a fun time was had by all. Thank god there was no loss of life. Damn...... what s story this Captain Ron is going to have to tell his grandchildren.

[boat driver]

somebody was not keeping proper lookout......

[rslifkin]

It'll take some more information to figure out which of them screwed up worse, but in the end, both of them screwed up to end up in that situation.

[PippaB]

The sailboat had the radar running? Sure sounds like it from the article, even if the guard zone was only forward. I can’t imagine a modern warship of any stripe not knowing it was being painted by radar nearby. More than just the watchstander’s eyes and their own radar, something failed in the CIC if they didn’t know there was a radar transmitting, in the end, a few meters away.

[ilanortho]

Originally Posted by chrisr

how in the world can ANY ship...let alone a warship with sensors and lookouts to burn...suddenly only see a reasonable size yacht just moments before a collision ! imagine it was a terrorist suicide bomber !!

defies understanding

somebody should be joining the american sub skipper in retirement...

cheers,

And yet they can detect a 4 meter long Matra missile traveling at Mach 2 coming in at sea level.. Go figure

[ob44]

Originally Posted by zeehag

why are you not mentioning the failure of the sailboat to gtf out of the way. it is not carrier to get out of way of sailboat itis sailboat needs to stay away from carrier.. last i read was recreational vessels need to stay specified number of ft away from military and merchant ships. i doubt they have changed that demand.
and if a sailor or alleged sailor cannot see a bludi aircraft carrier in front of him or behind, then that sailor needs more sailing lessons.. it is sailors job to keep constant watch. that means check behind you not just in front. it also means stay the heck away from gross tonnage and military ships, which have restricted movement and limited visibility
you already know the carrier was keeping watch.

1. COLREGS. Overtaking vessel SHALL give way.
2. COLREGS. All vessels SHALL maintain a proper lookout at all times. Did the carrier maintain a proper lookout?
3. 14 U.S.C. § 91. The Coast Guard has established temporary regulations for the safety and security of U.S. naval vessels in the navigable waters of the United States. The regulation is issued under the authority contained in Naval Vessel Protection Zones and provides for the regulation of vessel traffic in the vicinity of U.S. naval vessels in the navigable waters of the United States. Applies to US VESSELS in US WATERS.
4. The protection zone of 14 USC 91 applies to vessels APPROACHING a US Naval vessel. It does not (and could not) apply to a 25+ knot military vessel overtaking a 7-knot sailing vessel.
5. In clear daylight, a solo sailor would scan visually the forward horizon every so often and likely not look at his radar at all. The aircraft carrier at 25 kts (or more) would close 7.5 miles in 15 minutes, during which time the solo sailor could have been making tea and visiting the head.
6. We all know the law of gross tonnage: stay away from ships and commercial vessels regardless of privileged status. In this case, the solo sailor could possibly have had better situational awareness, but the carrier was the burdened vessel.

[Elie]

I found interesting that the French Carrier helped the salvage of the sailboat. A huge aircraft carrier like the Charles De Gaulle can't me maneuvred like a dinghy. But
taking care of the sailboat, assuring towing to port the disabled yacht and safety of the skipper is at the honnor of the French Marine Nationale. Bravo!. And I'm sur there won't be much arguments about who will pay. This solo Polish sailor is quite lucky in his bad luck. By the way sailing singlehandled without proper lookout is not recommanded.

[George DuBose]

How long was the Polish skipper below deck anyway? Aircraft carriers don't just "pop up". I bet the guy was taking a nap...certainly wasn't maintaining a lookout...

[zeehag]

we all know how tough itis to see a sailboat when you are the driver of a hugeness.. we have seen the results of that kind of folly on the part of sailboats many times. i had a friend who hit a dole ship and dole had no idea he was hit.. cannot always see us on radar, can we. cannot see over the bow of the ship---is like driving a sports car by 18 wheeler on freeway--they cannot see us.. is big ship aka gross tonnage supposed to hang a man over bow to watch for us.. yes they had a watch ... but the sailboat pulled a sh**head maneuver and that was the issue. of course they cannot see us until last minute or less. count how many sailboats got crunched by big ships without the on watch knowing about it.
remember the little girl in a pink boat who didnt watch well and hit the merchant ship? who blamed the merchant ship??

[RiverRat37]

It's getting more and more crowded out there with all of: Military, recreational and commercial traffic. It's up to us to be sure we recognize this and act accordingly. Being DEAD right is no solution. Rushing to Colregs to see who was at fault is the last thing I'd ever want to do.
Remember those large ships are moving at an unbelievable (emphasis on: unbelievable) speed and they have horrible maneuverability in emergency situations. Believe that a 1000' long ship weighing more than you can possibly imagine with a draft that seems to have no end quickly becomes YOUR responsibility.
Note: longest oil carrier is 1,500 feet (that's over 1/4 mile long!) Longest container ship is 1,310 feet. The USS Enterprise is 1,120 feet. Top speed of the new Gerald R. Ford class aircraft carriers is 30 knots. That's over 3,000 feet/minute. There are hundreds of ships over 1,000 feet. And more on the way.

[bailsout]

A warship with an Achilles heel? Or maybe trying to teach the sailboat a lesson.

[spiv]

Originally Posted by chrisr

thankyou - that is my point !

half a dozen state of the art microwave band radars...numerous human eyeball mk1 lookouts...and they still didn't detect him !
..........
I'm not talking about seamanship or common sense here - just the rules. nobody has the right to steam blindly around and run other vessels down just because they are painted grey !

cheers,

+1.
Couldn't agree more!