The wake of both ships appear straight. Apparently no radical maneuvering. Of course it’s tough to see if one ship speed up or slowed down. Without that it’s a bit hard to say who was at fault.
Not sure but I believe that at 0:42 the sound of a gas turbine spinning up can be heard.
It’s a good thing the Russians weren’t playing these game with the lilkes of the McCain. It could have ended badly.
Blowers maybe?
Presumably Farragut’s main engines.
Taking positive action to avoid the risk of collision.
Not the first time that the kids on the block are playing little games.
I am surprised that the American ship didnot change its course to avoid a possible collision as is required by the Rules of the Road. Same like I do in everyday traffic, I give every idiot priority and take if required evasive action. Sounding the horn is good but in some situations not enough.
You can hear the OOD say “Give me all ahead…” right before the turbine spools up. So that is evasive action taken. When the other ship is coming up your tater chute, turning might not be the best solution.
Which way should he have altered course?
Either way would have reduced his forward momentum and opened him up to a T bone scenario.
Accelerate out of the way, problem solved.
Maybe accidentally lose some depth charges over the side at the same time?
Of course these are aggressions between warships, not COLREGS situations.
Here are a couple from February 1988 when they were pissed off at us about something:
ETA: Ah, they were pissed because we were there spying and they didn’t want us there. From the poster:
In February 1988, Caron operating with Yorktown, entered Soviet 7 miles ) territorial waters limit in the Black Sea off the Crimean Peninsula. Under international law, this act could be permissible if the ship was progressing from one point in international waters to another point in international waters via the shortest course possible, but according to the Soviet Union, it was the right of the USSR to authorize or prohibit travel in selected areas within the 12 mile limit. The United States however did not recognize the Soviet’s claim in this case. To prevent it from becoming accepted precedent, the US Navy claimed that it had sailed warships through such areas at regular intervals in the past, which we had, not just two years prior.
On this occasion, Caron had onboard a ships signal exploitation spaces system, operated by a crew of 18 in support of the U.S. National Security Agency. This system was capable of recording data on Soviet defense radars and communications. In response, the Soviets deployed a destroyer and a Mirka II class light frigate as well as a KGB and “civilian” ships to intercept the U.S. ships. Several times, Soviet vessels obtained radar “lock” on the Caron and Yorktown. Both American ships maintained a constant course and speed throughout the incident. Eventually, the Soviets lightly rammed both ships. No significant damage resulted to any of the ships involved.
Both US warships sent an account of the incident to the Commander in Chief of United States Naval Forces in Europe. The Caron reported at 13:20 local time, it was informed on channel 16 VHF by the Bezzavetny: “Soviet ships have orders to prevent violation of territorial waters, extreme measure is to strike your ship with one of ours.”[1] The reply of the Caron was “I am engaged in innocent passage consistent with international law.”[1] The Yorktown, in its report stated that on 9:56, local time, it was contacted by the Bezzavetny via channel 16 and told to leave Soviet territorial waters or “our ship is going to strike on yours.”[1] Then, according to the report, the Bezzavetny came alongside port side of the Yorktown at 10:03 and bumped it by turning into the ship.[1]
As for the music, take note that this was shot on VHS and back in 1988, when we did not have Youtube. The only people we thought would see this was friends and family, not a bunch of people from all over the world. No the music is not masking the screams from the crew on the USS Caron, so if you don’t like it, there is a volume button - use it Also check out the video from the USS Yorktown at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SME4w0… This is the video that the Russian news showed on the 10th Anniversary - All I can say is I can’t believe that the Russian people believed and animated version of what happened over the real tape. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dl_WN… Also the video the Russians did on the 25th anniversary - They asked me for an interview and I declined for the very reason I that I knew they would not portray it accurately and they didn’t let me down http://www.tvc.ru/showspecrep.aspx?id… Here is the Russians account of what happened http://fishki.net/19391-stalnye-jajca…
I don’t understand all this apparently misplaced indignation on the part of USN. In the absence of any additional detail…
-Vid in 1st US5thFlt tweet seems to show crossing situation - rule 15. (i.e. USS shall keep out of the way, avoid crossing ahead)
-Vid in 2nd tweet shows USS crossing, passing ahead having overtaken - rules 13 &15. (i.e. shall keep out of the way)
Without any clarification beyond these 2 vids, should USN not find all this a bit embarrassing?
The Russian seems to have his starboard anchor backed out a bit. Wonder if he was intending to attempt to use the flukes as an impaling device? Kind of like the Cornucopia / Blackthorn collision.
Sorry, I should have wrote Capricorn, not Cornucopia.
One would think that opposing war ships normally ought to stay several miles away from each other whenever possible. It’s not good to make young men with itchy trigger fingers too nervous.
Especially if they are manning a missile battery near a commercial airport.
Look again at the wake from the Farragut. Straight and constant… The Russian ship on the other hand is maneuvering erratically.
What would happen if a rating was careless and whilst tidying up a mooring line on the aft deck, the bitter end was dropped into the water causing the whole length to flow overboard just as the agressive Russian ship was crossing the stern?
The satisfaction would be short lived. It would provide them with an excuse to escalate at the next encounter. We have ample evidence that they’re reckless, why play into their hand.