The burden to avoid a collision is on the overtaking ship. The US cruiser was reportedly recovering it's helo. The Russians say we cut in front of their destroyer.
Dubious Russian claim. The video shows the Russian ship overtaking. The USN ship has to maintain a course where the winds across the deck are within the recovery envelope. Once the recovery course is set, the ship does not alter course until the helo is secure on deck.
It appears the Russian ship was trailing & seized the opportunity when the USN ship would have limited maneuverability to generate a close approach. Look at the wakes of the ships in the image :
https://news.usni.org/2019/06/07/navy-r ... e-maneuver
This comes after the SU-35/P-8A close call near Syria. This came when our cruiser was doing a freedom of navigation transit in the contested South China Sea, while Xi is hosting Putin.
Meanwhile, NATO has massive D-Day celebration, without Putin in attendance & no mention of Russia's contribution in the Great War.
Putin & Russia want to be accorded superpower status & are attempting to demonstrate militarily, that they still are.
We're on converging collision courses which will not end well unless we both alter course.