The US Navy has decided to remove touchscreen controls from destroyers, returning them to a mechanical steering system. The decision, which will cover both the on-board controls and the rudder, was taken following two accidents caused by warships, which would have become too difficult for the crew to maneuver.

The first incident dates back to August 2017, when the USS John S. McCain accidentally rammed an oil tanker off the coast of Singapore, causing ten deaths and numerous injuries. In a similar incident two months earlier, the Uss Fitzgerald struck a cargo ship off the coast of Japan, causing seven deaths.As reported by US Navy news outlet Usni News, an internal investigation found that sailors aboard of the two ships had not been adequately trained in the new type of commands and that, despite this, on the day of the accident they had decided to use the manual control of the destroyer without using the navigation assistance tools, since "it allows a direct form communication between the rudder and the ship's console. "In addition, the manual mode has also disabled, without the sailors' knowledge, the safety lock that prevents multiple crew members from giving commands to the ship from the various control stations on board . According to what was reconstructed, while the ship was operating in the busy Singapore Strait, the aft and bow stations tried to steer the ship at the same time, effectively handing over command between them unwittingly, and unable to avoid the impact. central to the analysis is that a tactile response from the rudder, typical of mechanical systems, would allow the operator to understand that someone else was maneuvering from the other position. An internal survey of the armed forces made it possible to record the preference of sailors for the previous mechanical system over the more modern electronic dashboards, also characterized by better visibility of the controls. Navy spokesman Colleen O'Rourke told USNI News that “the Navy is planning to install physical rudders on all DDG-51 class ships equipped with the Integrated Bridge and Navigation System (IBNS). The first installation is scheduled for the summer of 2020, after the hardware and software changes have been developed and tested to ensure that the new configuration is safe, effective and has on-site training. "