Except that the systematic aversion to allow any delegation of power that haunts all western military forces, means that the reality is that the OOD ends up wit

Except that the systematic aversion to allow any delegation of power that haunts all western military forces, means that the reality is that the OOD ends up with dozens of contradictory tasks all of highest priority. On a merchent marine ship traveling that kind of waters there would be a team of 2-3 people with the most junior seaman present having more experience at see then the average junior US Navy officer, and no bullshit about having to coordinate with combat centers or signal intelligence in addition to having to navigate. Where as it sounds like several dozen of mostly inexperienced seaman was involved on the Fitzgerald incident.