COLLISIONS— 1969 



about four miles apart. 



At 0333, Ship B was sighted visually close 

 aboard off the port bow and on a collision course. 

 Shortly after the sighting the watch officer 

 ordered Right 20° Rudder followed by Hard Right. 

 He then sounded the general alarm. Collision 

 occurred within a minute as Ship B knifed into 

 the port side of Ship A. At the time Ship A was 

 still making turns for 16 knots. 



SHIP B 



Ship B was enroute from Kobe, Japan, to 

 Inchon, Korea. About 0040 the master set a course 

 of 008 °T and instructed the watch officer to give 

 all ships a wide berth. He then went below for 

 the night. During the next three hours the watch 

 officer made numerous course changes to avoid 

 fishing craf L. From several radar fixes it was 

 estimated that Ship B was making good 20 knots 

 over the ground. About 0300 the radar was 

 switched from the 8-mile scale normally in use to 

 the 20-mlle scale to get a fix on land features. 

 No targets that might have been ships were 

 detected outside of the 8-mile range. At 0315 the 

 radar was again switched to the 20-mile scale, but 

 no target that might have been Ship A was noted. 

 Sometime between 0315 and 0320 radar 



contacts believed to be more fishing vessels were 

 picked up off the port bow, and the watch officer 

 ordered a substantial course change to starboard. 

 After estimating that the ship was clear he 

 returned to the base course of 008 °T. 



At approximately 0328 the watch officer 

 thought he detected a radar target bearing 018°T 

 on the 4-mile range ring. He changed course to 

 000° T in case the target was another fishing 

 vessel, and estimated that it would pass about 1 

 mile off the starboard side. At 0330 the watch 

 officer again switched to the 20-mile scale to get 

 a fix. Upon switching back to the 8-mile scale, 

 he noticed that the target now presented a much 

 larger pip. Suspicious of the contact the watch 

 officer ordered the helmsman to come left to 

 course 350°T and stepped out into the starboard 

 bridge wing. He then saw several white lights 

 bearing two points on the starboard bow and 

 knew immediately that he was looking at a large 

 ship. Quickly estimating that it was about 2 

 miles distant he ordered Hard Left Rudder. Next, 

 he placed the telegraph on full astern and called 

 the master on the voice tube. Without waiting 

 for a reply he returned to the bridge wing. 

 Seconds later the bridge of Ship A loomed forth, 

 broad on the starboard bow. Collision followed 



71 



