Coast Guard ship hits ferry; no injuries reported

Guess they forgot to turn the radar on!!!

I guess that leaves them "a little un sure".

"For Hire" - 30 year Coast Guard Veteran-Recently Discharged. Thats what you call a career killer, even if it was not his fault, the military will probably relieve him of his command duty.

To The Point wrote:

"For Hire" - 30 year Coast Guard Veteran-Recently Discharged. Thats what you call a career killer, even if it was not his fault, the military will probably relieve him of his command duty.

Yep. Happened to my captain. 28 years in, ran the boat aground. Drunk. He was booted.

Absolutely no excuse for this mishap can be accepted.

There are too many safeguards and rules that were broken, more than likely by both vessels. I would love to hear the inquiry.
Regardless of weather,sea conditions,or visibility, rules of the road and common sense were ignored..not withstanding responsible seamanship.

Happier than a clam that noone was injured

Someday, I.. or someone, will invent a technique that uses sound propagation to navigate, or to detect other vessels. Maybe they'll call it Sonar (short for sound navigation and ranging).

Meanwhile, I'm very busy inventing another system that uses electromagnetic waves to identify the range, direction, speed of both moving and fixed objects such as a ship at sea. I'll call my invention RADAR (short for Radio Detection and Ranging). But seriously, I'm glad no one got hurt.

As previously stated by several other posts, this
skippers career is surely over, even if he was not
to blame for the incident, as a board of inquiry
will find out. The Captain is the supreme guy on
board any vessel, and as such is totally respons-
ible for the safety and well being of all hands
on board and the safe operation of that vessel.
When it comes to knowing the Rules of the Road, and proper navigation techniques; who should have the most expertise; the U.S. COAST GUARD.
Thankfully there was no loss of lives or injuries
to anyone involved. This could have been a real
serious incident.

I agree with most of the comments but both ships should have had radar and sonar and there is no excuse. Some commander and captains head is going to roll and it probably should be both.

Thanks CG Vet, very well and accurately written.

Good example of a bunch of atta boys being sunk by one "oh chit"

I read the CG skipper just receved command in Newport and was returning to NL.

Yes, the USCG has to set the example...and almost always do..great bunch of men and women !!!

Look on the bright side - if he had hit a sailboat no one would ever have known.....

I am curious why the two ships could not detect eachother on radar? Is this neglegence or a technical failure? This could have very well been a huge tragety at sea.

Someday wrote:

Someday, I.. or someone, will invent a technique that uses sound propagation to navigate, or to detect other vessels. Maybe they'll call it Sonar (short for sound navigation and ranging).
Meanwhile, I'm very busy inventing another system that uses electromagnetic waves to identify the range, direction, speed of both moving and fixed objects such as a ship at sea. I'll call my invention RADAR (short for Radio Detection and Ranging). But seriously, I'm glad no one got hurt.

You're just a mad scientist! Next you'll come up with something crazy like Loran or Gps. It'll never replace the sextant you loon, wait till the US Lifesaving ang Lighthouse Service here your crazy ideas.

US Coast Guard- A Tiny Lil' Division of Amtrak

JJM wrote:

I agree with most of the comments but both ships should have had radar and sonar and there is no excuse. Some commander and captains head is going to roll and it probably should be both.

I've taken that ferry for about 30 years and they follow the exact same route every time. In times of fog, the captain is regularly sounding the horn. I find it hard to believe that if there was a radar failure, that the Coast Guard did not realize that the ferry will usually be in the same place at the same times every day. They have GPS too! Somebody, probably on the Coast Guard boat, screwed up.

They should have used Six Sigma and Mini-Tab.