I'm not even remotely qualified on anything ship related so my question might be totally pointless.
But by your logic, couldn't one argue that reaction time plays a rather large role? If you are navigating a narrow canal with thin margins for error, wouldn't you need good timing to start a manuever at a certain point so that the ship is able to respond by the time that you need to truly adjust it's position? If some sort of weather event/anomaly caused an unexpected change of course, wouldn't reaction time be even more critical because you have less time to make a correction if you don't act immediately?
What I was trying to say was that even if the captain instantly tried to reverse the course, ship has already started to move and due to size its momentum is enormous.
fair point. you are right. reaction time works both ways. if it takes long to counteract a problem, it also takes time for there to be a problem to begin with
i don't have any experience with ships larger than a small sailing yacht myself and i guess, either you see a problem coming, then you have enough time to react, or you don't see it, and then it's to late either way.
