[Ichthypresbyter]

I've heard a story about an exercise involving British and American warships where at one point ships from the two different navies collided. It was a very minor incident- no deaths or serious injuries, and relatively little damage to the ships.

The next morning the American ship that had been involved in the collision was nowhere to be found. The British admiral asked the Americans where it was, and was told that the captain had reported the collision and been ordered to return to port for an investigation.

He was shocked- earlier in his career, a ship he commanded had been involved in a similar incident. The letter he received from a senior admiral in response to it began with "Today, you became a better sailor..."

[opwieurposiu]

Grounding, Sinking, Fouled Prop, Collision, Dead Engine, Capsize. Make it through these six and you will be a pretty good sailor.

[Steltek]

Maybe a few other American destroyers had already collided with cargo ships earlier that year...