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As someone with a few years experience at sea, I've never experienced this culture. I have come across ships at sea where the bridge crew were clearly asleep -
by mjlee 9y ago
As someone with a few years experience at sea, I've never experienced this culture.
I have come across ships at sea where the bridge crew were clearly asleep - I think that's a much more likely scenario.
- rsync 9y ago"As someone with a few years experience at sea, I've never experienced this culture." I encourage you to read the book - it makes the case that among very large ships there is indeed such a culture. My personal experience as a sailor in the US Navy neither bolsters nor diminishes what is described in the book but I do believe that a culture of machismo and egomania can permeate the ranks. Just because it was the officer in charge and not the actual (sleeping) captain might not make much difference.
- mjlee 9y agoI did read as much as I could from https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=VC5hYoMw4N0C https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=VC5hYoMw4N0C before commenting. I spent years at sea as an Officer of the Watch in the Royal Navy - during that time I spoke to quite a few other watchkeepers from around the world. The attitude I encountered was always one of terror of getting it wrong rather than machismo. I can see how in ambiguous scenarios with large cargo vessels this could lead to a collision. In a relatively nimble destroyer I'm very confident this wasn't a simple case of "I'm the stand on vessel, I won't move."
- jessaustin 9y agoAdditionally, it's difficult to imagine how a boat with its AIS transmitter intentionally turned off could ever be a "stand-on" at night.