
10 US Navy sailors missing after destroyer collides with merchant ship - jrs235
http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/20/asia/us-navy-destroyer-collision-singapore/index.html
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jrs235
1 point by jrs235 6 minutes ago | edit [-] [-]

Is it possible that someone is in fact utilizing GPS "hacking" that is
assisting in the likelihood of these collisions? There was a story
([https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15003333](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15003333))
here on hckrnews about GPS "hacking" last week, although most people said the
issue was known and not that big of a deal.

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greenyoda
Both of these ships would have radar to detect each other, so I'm not sure how
effectively you could attack them with GPS spoofing. Even if they go off
course, they can still avoid obstacles with radar.

I'd also guess that a destroyer wouldn't have to rely on GPS - it would
probably have an old-fashioned inertial navigation system (gyroscope) as a
backup. In a war against a major power like Russia or China, you should expect
that they'd be able to knock out your GPS satellites.

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Grazester
Exactly. Whatever happened to the powerful radars these war ships carry?

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taspeotis
This article [1] was published when the USS Fitzgerald had its collision. It
describes how hard it can be to manage the position of the ship relative to
other vessels.

[1] [http://taskandpurpose.com/fitzgeralds-watch-team-
mine/](http://taskandpurpose.com/fitzgeralds-watch-team-mine/)

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xxxdarrenxxx
I don't get it. Aircraft carrier and a Tanker.. perhaps, but it's a
destroyer.. intercept and agility is it's entire design concept...

Tanker: 30k ton, 10 knots

Destroyer: 9k ton, 30+ knots

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWZA_nJrQW4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWZA_nJrQW4)

At 7:27, look how short of a distance it needs to make a 90 degree turn.

I don't see any scenario where they can't evade it, even for hollywood
standards it's quite unrealistic.

It takes miles too change course on a tanker (as stated in the article), which
means you can anticipate your course miles ahead. Even a child with basic math
can figure this equation out.

I don't know, secret US stalking off ships gone wrong, Korean infiltration,
GPS spoofing, corrupt crew, lazy crew, crash on purpose..

What do we really know, it's military in the end, which means a potential for
classified info being held back. If it's a fatal technical flaw, they would
not tell that to public media I figure, for political reasons.

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synicalx
How do the sailors go missing? They're either on the boat, in which case
they're not missing because that's where they should be, or they're in the
water in which case they'll be very close by.

Am I missing something here? Surely it's normal for at least one person to
look overboard and check for floaters after you prang your boat?

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soneil
Pretty simple answer really - these things usually happen at night. There's a
much higher chance of spotting a tanker during daylight.

It's surprisingly difficult to see someone in the water during the day -
there's less body sticking out of the water, than there are waves to hide it.
At night? No-one wants to admit it, but you're a lost cause before you hit the
water.

The other half of your problem is that missing doesn't mean MOB. In the
relatively recent Fitzgerald incident, those lost were found in a sealed
compartment. Pretty much damage-control 101 to seal any compartment you can,
and especially those breached. While locking people in a flooded compartment
has to be a gutwrenching decision to make, the alternative is to allow a
compartmentalized breach to take the whole crew.

