https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Fitzgerald_and_MV_ACX_Crys...
There's no substitute for looking around (which of course is impossible in a submarine below periscope depth). As a JOOD* underway aboard an aircraft carrier, I had a tendency to spend a lot of time looking at the radar scope. But as soon as I qualified and started standing OOD* watches, I realized that I had switched to constantly scanning the horizon and the flight deck and only occasionally glancing at the radar.
* OOD = Officer of the Deck, the person on watch who's responsible for the safe navigation of the ship for that "watch" (generally, a four-hour period), reporting to the commanding officer. JOOD = Junior Officer of the Deck, in training to be an OOD.
Move to a moving platform.
A lot of our muscle memory and sense help us.
God bless.
this all goes back centuries, back to when navy crews were often kidnapped and made virtual slaves...the navy has always been operated for the benefit of the officer class...
and nowadays we have the issue of lowered standards as well.
This was called "Shanghaiing"[0] or "Impressment"[1] (ala a "press gang") and has an interesting history:
https://www.amusingplanet.com/2018/04/shanghaiing-how-tricke... (also see [3])
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghaiing
I don't think those details have been released on this incident though.
