Re(2): The Close Encounter Posted on 6/8/2019 at 19:52:57 by Bill Crawford, (14)
Pete,
I had the same question.
The closest answer I could find was in the below linked article.
(However, I'm not sure about the source--Moon of Alabama?)
A comment in the string associated with the above article does cite Rule 27b of the Nautical Rules of the Road as possibly giving the U.S. ship the right of way in that situation. (See below: http://navruleshandbook.com/Rule27.html).