What is Going on with US Warships?

Yet another US warship has been collided with, this time the USS John McCain.

In June it was the USS Fitzgerald.

It seems that watch keeping duties on both ships (and the others that have been collided with this year alone) were sadly lacking.

Considering that these are modern warships, with effective radar, a surplus of power to get out of tight situations and highly agile, it seems the weakest link is the human one.

However, look further and the question you have to ask is why are these ships getting so close to each other anyway? Modern shipping lanes have traffic separation schemes and there are pretty universal rules for the movements of ships at sea. If the ships do get close, again there are pretty clear rules that come into play. Everyone on watch on a ship's bridge should be well aware of their responsibilities as a watch, their responsibilities to their ship and their crew and finally to other mariners. Any movements that go against established rules are agreed in advance over VHF radio so that the commanders of both ships are aware.

With Radar and modern communications, even low visibility, even nighttime is not a factor. But with all that I mention above, the ships should not be in a position where a tanker ploughs into the side of a warship.

Someone, somewhere is sadly lacking. Possibly the lack of staff on the bridge of the tanker, almost certainly poor watchkeeping aboard the warship where the bridge crew should be fully staffed. Sadly a number of American sailors had to pay with their lives.

If I was a conspiracy theorist, I'd say that these big ships are deliberately being driven at American warships to see how quickly they react and how they react.