I can't believe that having smashed a few tiny islands that going along Cuba can alter the course. Is it less energy picked up from the warm water along with moisture being denied by the landmass of Cuba? If it stays further from Cuba it still makes this dramatic turn.
Has anyone seen an explanation for this, or what the real cause is? (one layperson's opinion was it it was 'bouncing' off Cuba, which made me not trust his scientific background too much.
What does the US Coast Guard and Navy do with their big boats during such times? And what about those ships which are in dry dock or retrofit and cannot move under their own power, such as in Newport News, etc. when a hurricane hits? I'd think that even tied up there would be a lot of force on the tie down points when an aircraft carrier gets lifted by a storm surge or blow sideways into the dock by 100 mph winds.
Is anyone from a branch of the wet services that knows or been through one?
Tropical systems are a surface based low pressure system and they act like a cork floating in a large pool, they go wherever flows, eddies, currents in the atmosphere push it. Land fall, brief or not, does not effect the track of the storm, merely cuts off the fuel supply.
As far as ships, I know "small boys" as we called them, (destroyers, cruisers, and such) leave port if necessary. If the storm is strong enough, I believe just about any able ship leaves port and seeks safety well away from the path. As far as dry dock, I have no idea.