I seem to recall about a year ago (give-or-take), that a sailor got his arm broken by the rudder ram. Turned out that the ship's rudder ram guards weren't exactly up-to-code. Big Navy then cast a broader net, and discovered some other boats with improper rudder ram guards. Everybody was told to check their rudder ram guards for compliance, but I don't recall the deadline given. And now that I think about it, it may have been that only 688's were found with problems and therefore were the only ones told to go check (NEBRASKA is a boomer).
And for Preciousblue, the rudder ram is essentially a great big (and we mean BIG big) hydraulic piston used for pushing the rudder left-and-right. All of the previous examples given were good ones - just picture them on about a x20 scale. Tack on a couple of attached gizmos for position indications and such, and you have a localized environment around the hydraulic ram which is not at all respectful of human flesh and bone. (Hence, the reason for erecting guards around them.)
I'm not saying that this is a smoking gun or anything; I don't know any more about the situation than the rest of us (and I certainly know less than some). I just remember that we've had rudder ram lessons written in blood before, and thought that this topic would be relevant.
My heart goes out to the sailor's family and shipmates. 22 years old is so young, so young...