Comment Re:Basic seamanship (Score 1) 236
Not much of a sailor on the cruiser. According to TFA he saw the sub 100-200 yds ahead and ordered "all back". Should have been hard a port or starboard
The story didn't have a lot of detail. It said the sub rose to periscope depth. My guess (with of course no experience it handling big ships) was that if they could only see the periscope, they may not have been able to determine quickly the speed or direction of the sub. Turning could make a collision better or worse. Slowing down or stopping could avoid and at a minimim will lessen the damage of any collision. Someone mentioned earlier that some naval vessels can stop in 1.5 times their length. If this ship could stop anywhere near that quickly, It seems to me to be the safest quick decision. Order all back, then try to determine the subs direction, try to communicate with the sub, take next steps to avoid a collision, if possible.