Navy Recommends Use of Automatic ID System for Ship Location Data Transmission

The U.S. Navy called on service personnel to broadcast location data to nearby ships through the use of automatic identification systems and advance plans to update electronic navigation tools aboard vessels, Defense One reported Thursday.

The service made the recommendations through a review publicly released Wednesday about this year’s three surface ship collisions that include an incident involving a Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruiser – USS Lake Champlain.

The Navy attributed the “chain of errors” that led to collisions with inadequate adoption of AIS and failure to use AIS-related data to support situational awareness operations.

“In each of the three collisions, the U.S. Navy ships involved had an AIS receiver and transmitter, but maintained their AIS in receive mode only,” the U.S. Fleet Forces Command said in the Oct. 26 report.

Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson issued a statement Wednesday saying the collisions involving two Arleigh Burke-class destroyer ships – USS Fitzgerald and USS John S. McCain – were both “preventable.”