Philadelphia Likely Not At Fault In Collision

A new article on the Philadelphia grounding in The New London Day (registration required after today; longer lasting version of the story here -- Edited 2034 09 Sep) seems to show that my previously discussed "meeting situation" hypothesis was wrong, and provides even more evidence that Philadelphia wasn't to blame. Excerpts:

"Sources said the freighter was coming up behind the submarine about 30 miles off the Bahrain coast and apparently ran right up over the back of the ship, scraping along the starboard side of the hull, the fairwater plane, the rudder and the housing for the towed sonar array.
"The sources said under international maritime “rules of the road,” any vessel overtaking another must automatically yield the right of way, so if the M/V Yaso Aysen is found to have been overtaking the submarine, then legally the Philadelphia would be in the clear, which could mean the Navy is not responsible for legal damages to the freighter.
"But a Navy investigation could still conclude the Philadelphia captain and navigation team should never have let the freighter get close enough to hit it, and the captain and some members of the crew could still face some kind of punishment, the sources said.
"The outcome might also depend on whether the Philadelphia was displaying the proper navigational aids to warn nearby ships that most of its bulk was underwater, and whether the Turkish ship ignored radio warnings. Two retired submarine skippers said freighters are often in a hurry and would occasionally run too close to their ships, which can be dangerous in navigation channels that leave little room for maneuvering."

The article's right in describing the behavior of merchant ships, particularly outside the jurisdiction of the U.S. Coast Guard. Once the Navy releases pictures that show the damage to the sub, this will hopefully convince the AP to stop saying that the submarine "slammed" into the freighter.

Staying at PD...

Update 1402 07 Sep: Since I always make fun of the moonbats over at Democratic Underground, I suppose I should give some equal time to the black helicopter crowd over at Free Republic. Here's their take on the collision; the main difference from what you see at DU is that the Freepers have one person posting (BeHoldAPaleHorse) who actually has a clue.