200543 OOW Distractions
OOW Distractions
MARS Report 200543
When we were West of Gibraltar Strait our AIS has tracked 196 vessels within a radius of 50nm. I heard the following communication on the VHF.
"MV ABC, this is NATO War Ship (NPS) 3 miles off your port beam"
"This is MV ABC"
NPS "Please shift to channel XX".
MV ABC confirms and OOW has to reply to the following questions as a matter of surveillance of merchant navy vessels. The flag, IMO number, Port of Registry, name of owners, agent, cargo type and quantity. Last and next port of call, date of departure, etc. It took around 10 minutes to reply all the questions and during that time navigational safety of vessel was relying only on the lookout (if a lookout was posted). The reason of installing AIS on board is security and remote identification of vessels. Most of the Naval patrol vessels (NPS's) do not rely on the AIS and just ask a lot of questions.
The OOW is being distracted from carrying out duties of maintaining the safe navigation of vessel. The Captain's name, passport number and nationality are also among the questions asked by some NPS's. The OOW should not be distracted to carry out the duties of safe navigation especially within such dense traffic areas. Besides, the Gibraltar Strait has VTS and mandatory reporting system. NPS could get all the information via VTS.
All around the world we have encountered similar situations (mostly within congested traffic areas). This should be regulated in order not to cause a major collision.
Readers Feedback
Please forgive my cynicism, but after 35 years in the Royal Navy and hence much close working with the USN, I have a possible explanation for the behaviour of USS XXX. As a Service, the USN is unforgiving of mistakes and hence Commanding Officers are less inclined to delegate matters (such as alterations to increase CPAs) to their Officers of the Watch than the Royal Navy is. As an example, I served under several Captains whose standing orders permitted alterations of up to 5 degrees without calling them - quite enough to avoid a close quarters situation provided you acted early. It could well be that the OOW on this occasion was hoping to avoid having to call his Captain. However, maybe this prohibition on minor alterations for shipping avoidance without direct Command Approval is a widespread custom - not just a USN one.