The Inside Story of an American Warship Doomed by Its Own Navy
The Navy failed the men killed this night. But also the culture imposed on them did. Four of the five officers on duty for this catastrophe and at fault were diversity picks. Two, Combs and Coppok, were mad at each other and not speaking because of a catfight. All had had previous near misses and failures.
Even the lowly helmsman was female and when given an order just before the crash “Hard left rudder....Helmsman-in-training Simona Nelson...froze, unsure of how to respond."
Sarah Coppok OOD "In a panic, she ordered the Fitzgerald to turn directly into the path of the Crystal...[later]Benson found the officer who had been in charge of the ship sobbing"
Natalie Combs tactical actions officer overseing radar operations “I did not see any contact that caused me alarm in regard to its distance for me,” (speaking of the seconds before the 30,000 ton ACX Crystal collided with them)
Lt. Raven Parker, Jr OOD...supposed to be watchstanding "But Parker had walked out onto a small metal deck located off the bridge on the port side of the Fitzgerald just after 1 a.m. She was there with Womack, trying to fit in some training...Parker had not received a promotion on a previous ship, after its commanding officer thought she had trouble assessing the risk posed by ships in the surrounding ocean."
