Navy to remove touchscreen controls from destroyers in wake of USS McCain accident report

The Navy will begin replacing the digital throttles on its destroyers with physical ones in 2020 after a report found confusion and poor training on the touchscreen system contributed to a deadly crash.

The National Transportation Safety Board released a damning report last week on the 2017 collision of the USS John S. McCain and the Liberian-flagged Alnic MC tanker. It concluded “the root cause was the Navy’s lack of oversight,” which led to “insufficient training and inadequate bridge operating procedures.”