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How is there not some kind of "crew is asleep detecting autopilot" on these ships? If not on the military vessel, then on the cargo transport? Seems like it would be easy enough if they have radar. Just detect when you're on a collision course and adjust 3 degrees to port / starboard if there isn't human input?

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That's a good question. I would think that modern ships should scream "collision course ahead" with light, sounds, etc. However, psychologically, maybe it's believed that this would make people even _more_ complacent? I don't know, just speculating. Never the less, the captain should never allow his sailors to think, "we're almost there, we're in friendly waters, we can relax". No, always on alert. It's unforgivable.

Of course the cargo ship has BNWAS installed. The captain might have turned it off? If the bridge personnel didn't know about the (no-AIS, running dark, much faster) navy boat, however, their wakefulness wouldn't have prevented the end result.

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