“However, this begs the question, why did the ship not drop anchor upon losing power, as is standard protocol when a ship is in what is called restricted maneuvering conditions. Upon losing power, the ship’s personnel should have dropped anchor.”
Even if the crew had dropped anchor immediately with all of the kinetic energy of that huge vessel it would not have stopped in time anyway, and probably would have ripped the capstan off of the vessel or ripped some other parts or parts of the anchor system, which would simply add to the disaster, dumb-ox nelles.
I was listening to a conservative talk radio station early in the morning. A caller who was retired Navy came on and explained that Baltimore Harbor seabed is sand, not rocky, so there would be no purchase for the anchor they dropped. It would just pull right out.