If the boat did get pushed "violently" backwards, the rudders would have turned against their stops anyway - even if they were initially centered. Or something else in the steering system would have snapped if the AP drive was holding them.

I have a difficult time understanding how enough force was applied to the rudders to break the internal webbing even if they were turned 30* and at the end of their stops. How fast and hard can a 20,000lb boat traveling 4kts be stopped dead and thrown backwards without people and other gear getting broke? I would expect the rudders to hold up in this scenario.

On the other hand, there has to be practical limits to Tom's "any force the water applies". For example, I don't think it is reasonable to expect rudders to be designed for the boat to be surfing backwards at 25kts with the rudders turned 90* (it was suggested elsewhere that this is the criteria to which rudders should be engineered).

Mark