In order to help visualise what might have been going on here, could anyone more familiar with the details of this mission and accident provide a bit of context - known or guesstimated? Was the 135 likely to have been visual with the target vessel? Had it tried an approach already? What would normally happen at the end of the approach? Why might a previous approach not have been successful? How well lit would the target vessel be?
All I can glean from previous posts is from #14 which suggests a height of 100ft and just 22kts just before the crash, and some localised circling before. One would have thought an approach technique would not involve losing translational lift until virtually over the vessel, especially given the likelihood of flight being in effectively instrument conditions, but I know nothing of these ops.