Lookout men inside bridge at time of Aegis accident due to cold weather

Sunday 08th June, 06:11 AM JST

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9 Comments

Zenigata2 at 02:04 PM JST - 8th June

What's the point of having state-of-the-art warships if the JMSDF staff them with sailors so delicate that prefer to stay indoors rather manning their watchposts when the weather gets rough?
teck at 02:18 PM JST - 8th June

Even then, the lookouts should still be able to see around the ship from inside the bridge. Negligence in a proper radar lookout is something which shouldn't have happened, though, since modern ships have ARPA which does automatic plotting of contacts, and even sound out alarms when it senses that certain contacts are going to collide with the ship.
OssanULTRA at 07:47 AM JST - 9th June

What's the significance of them being inside the Bridge which is almost all glass and forward visibility is the same as being outside? The only time one is usually outside is in close docxkign manouvers where the need to see the sides exists. Is there some MSDF rule requiring men to be stationed outside at the time of the accident?
USNinJapan2 at 09:58 AM JST - 9th June

OssanULTRA

True, this is an insignificant detail the prosecutors are focusing on since there's no law (to my knowldege anyway) that requires ships to post watches specifically outside on an open deck. They are only required to 'maintain a proper lookout', be it inside the pilothouse or some other location. If the lookouts can see what they need to see, it doesn't matter where they are.

The thing that's bothered me from the beginning about this whole investigation is that although I'm pretty certain they located the two remaining halves of the fishing boat underwater, they never raised them or dived on them to fully investigate possible causes of the collision. Despite the absence of any information on the fishing vessel's side, the blame has been put squarely on the JMSDF vessel from the start, both by the prosecution and some JT posters here. Without fully investigating the fishing boat and its GPS-equipped navigational radar there is no way to positively determine that its navigational lights were on/properly functioning or to rule out that it erroneously manuevered directly into the path of the destroyer in the last minute. The investigation so far has dug up several aspects of the JMSDF ship's operation so far that most definitely contributed to the accident, but the same effort hasn't been expended at all on the other half of the equation, the fishing boat. Without doing so the investigation is not comprehensive nor the prosecution fair.
frontandcentre at 12:30 PM JST - 9th June

The lookout issue is hardly the point - the point is that one of the most sophisticated warships in the world should have been properly aware of the presence of the fishing boat on a collision course. As USNinJapan2 points out, the contribution of the fishing boat to this accident is also very difficult to judge, because sadly both crew died. But simply saying that lookouts should have been outside on the bridge wings is an oversimplification.
Taka313 at 12:54 PM JST - 9th June

Front, Well, I disagree that it's oversimplification. Having lookouts outside means that you have someone who may hear something as well as see something that may be in the way, especially during times of low visibility. In fact, the U.S. Navy puts extra people outside the skin of the ship to watch what's going on. Many a deck seaman will scowl at the words, "set the low visibility detail" because they know they are going to be outside looking and listening for a potential hazard. The answer to really cold watches is better foul weather gear, in my opinion, and not putting the watches inside the skin of the ship.

USN, Very good point regarding the investigation. Totally agree.

Taka
unscrejects at 04:43 PM JST - 9th June

With the cost of diesel as high as it is I have no doubt the boat was not illuminated... I want the people attacking the 'navy' to try to spot a tiny Japanese fishing boat in the dark on the open seas.
cleo at 04:58 PM JST - 9th June

I have no doubt the boat was not illuminated...

The Atago crew stated they did see the fishing boat's lights at 3:55, 11 minutes before the collision.

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20080224a6.html
USNinJapan2 at 06:27 PM JST - 9th June

cleo

Question is, which lights did they see? Red, green, white or a combination? Makes a huge difference and it looks like we'll never know...