Turning a wheel doesn't work on a boat like it does on a car, since the surface they're on is not stable in any way. If the currents are pushing the ships together hard enough, they can bang into one another even when both are trying to back up as fast as they can.

That's why they've developed the rules of the sea that determine who yields to whom, which direction should specifically be used with the yielding, etc. In the midst of a chaotic route of a battle, I can see this happening between enemy ships.

Just cruising at sea, whether part of an exercise or not, there's simply no excuse.

Turning of the wheel should've happened. Just several minutes prior to when we started realizing what's going on.

/realizes that you probably know it.
//put it out there for the benefit of those that might not.