Mexican Navy ship crashes into Brooklyn Bridge leaving two people dead

Why did they leave the Seaport on the flood tide? Low tide was 5:37 PM EDT, so at 8:30 the current up the "river" (really a tidal strait) was just about at its fastest – if they'd lost way there four or more hours earlier or later they'd have been washed out into the harbor, probably safely but at any rate not under any bridges.

At 8:30 PM, even if it had gone well, they'd have been motoring against a 3 knot current that they could have had going their way instead.

I fear the reason they left then was so they could have their light show with the cadets on the yardarms just after sunset for greatest effect and audience... but then they should have picked another day.

One of the cardinal rules of cruising, is you should never sail to a schedule

They performed a very dangerous maneuver (as demonstrated, any engine failure guarantees crashing because there is no time to use the sails or the anchors) at the most unsuitable time.

A tugboat would have provided redundancy, waiting for a mild current in the opposite direction would have eliminated the risk.