7 U.S. Sailors Unaccounted for After Navy Destroyer Collides With Ship Off Japan

[angelatc]

Looks like bodies have been found in the wreckage and remains sent for testing for identification , families are being notified . Safe to say all 7 are deceased .

That breaks my heart.

 

[oyarde]

That breaks my heart.

Yes , horrible .

 

[oyarde]

Worst possible time for negligence is middle of the night . Nearly everyone will be asleep and thus more prone to injury .

 

[Anti Federalist]

That said, at 0230, the CO wasn't on the bridge, he was in his stateroom, sound asleep more than likely and also likely that is why he was injured, because the master's room would be right about where that damage is on the topsides house.

Unless there was something extraordinary going on prior to the collision, a junior officer had the conn at the time, I'm quite sure.

Not that it matters, the CO will still be held to blame even if he was "asleep and off watch at the time".

Deadly Collision Crushed Captain’s Cabin of USS Fitzgerald

Bodies of seven U.S. sailors recovered after the U.S. destroyer collided with the ACX Crystal

https://www.wsj.com/articles/seven-...ad-after-collision-with-cargo-ship-1497750366

YOKOSUKA, Japan—As most of its crew slept on Friday night, the USS Fitzgerald passed through one of Japan’s busiest shipping lanes just south of Tokyo, a watch crew assigned to guide its passage.

In a period of seconds, a 29,000 ton cargo ship loaded with containers plowed into its right side, crushing a large section of the destroyer’s main structure, including the captain’s cabin and sleeping quarters for 116 sailors below the waterline. Seawater flooded in through a large gash.

As the crew scrambled to save themselves and the ship, seven sailors didn’t make it out of the berthing area. Their bodies were recovered by divers after the ship crawled to the port of Yokosuka.

“The water inflow was tremendous,” Vice Adm. Joseph Aucoin, head of the U.S. Seventh Fleet, said in a press briefing on Sunday. “There wasn’t a lot of time” for sailors to react.

Badly injured, the captain, Bryce Benson, escaped from his cabin. He was airlifted to a nearby hospital where he was receiving emergency treatment on Sunday before being questioned.

“He’s lucky to be alive,” Vice Adm. Aucoin said.

The question of why a U.S. destroyer was rammed by a cargo ship over three times its size, one of the worst incidents in recent U.S. Navy history, has no immediate answers.

Some former military and commercial shipping captains speculate that the Fitzgerald may have failed to follow international regulations that require ships to give way to other vessels to their starboard, or right side.

“Unless the destroyer lost steering control, which is unlikely, it should have given right of way to the container ship,” said Yiannis Sgouras, a retired captain of tankers and cargo ships who worked in the world’s busiest trade route from Asia to Europe.

Others caution that there are potentially many other contributing factors to the collision. Tracking data sent by the cargo ship, the ACX Crystal, showed it reversed course around 2:05 a.m. local time, shortly before the time of the collision given by the U.S. Navy of approximately 2:20 a.m.

However, Nippon Yusen K.K . , the Japanese shipping company that operates the 728-foot-long ACX Crystal, has stated that the collision occurred around 1:30 a.m. That discrepancy hasn’t been resolved.

“She did not reverse the course before the collision. She did after the collision,” a Nippon Yusen company spokesman said.

Both Japan and the U.S. are launching investigations, and each side declined to speculate about possible blame. The 20 Filipino crew members of the ACX Crystal, all of whom were unharmed, have been questioned, a spokesman for the Japan Coast Guard said.

Around 400 vessels pass through the region where the collision took place, around 56 nautical miles southwest of Yokosuka, each day, according to the Japanese Coast Guard. Official records show three accidents have been reported in the same area in the last five years.

Collisions at sea for the U.S. Navy are extremely uncommon, said Bryan McGrath, a former destroyer captain, who said they occur only once or twice a decade, if that. He said he couldn’t remember a recent collision that was this consequential.

“There are 275 ships in the Navy and 100 are under way all over the world,” navigating “millions and millions of miles” every year, said Mr. McGrath, who retired in 2008 and is now a consultant. “This is very, very rare.”

Yoji Koda, a retired vice admiral and former commander in chief of Japan’s navy, said that when U.S. Navy vessels are in the vicinity of Japan their alert level is the same as civilian vessels. He said one possibility was that either or both of the ships in the latest collision were using an autopilot system for guidance.

“Although they have watchmen, their responses tend to be delayed,” he said.

Vice Adm. Aucoin said all questions about the cause of the incident would require the results of the investigation, adding that the U.S. would work “hand-in-hand” with Japan.

Navy officials said they were working to inform family members of those killed, and had taken over 500 calls to a hotline for relatives to obtain information about the incident. One senior Navy official said all the crew of the ship were grieving.

Vice Adm. Aucoin said that despite the extensive damage to the Fitzgerald, a ship equipped with an advanced Aegis ballistic missile defense system, it would be restored to the U.S. 7th Fleet. That process could take up to a year, he said.

The repair process could cost around the same as the $250 million spent over 14 months on restoring the USS Cole, a similar ship to the Fitzgerald, which was heavily damaged by a terrorist bombing in Yemen in 2000.

 

[Anti Federalist]

Now, one thing based on that report above, while navy vessels are required to follow the COLREGS, they are not required to continuously broadcast their position via AIS (big brother tracking) like us Mundane's ships are.

AIS positions are integrated into the navigation suite, and are critical to presenting accurate time, speed, closest point of approach and collision avoidance calculations.

If the watch of the CSX Crystal was relying on AIS data instead of doing a manual radar plot and/or just keeping a close visual watch of range and bearing, that very well could have led to the collision as well.

 

[Anti Federalist]

You think that's bad, can you imagine being on a boat where AF is the skipper?

You oughta sail with me some time...I could use a new cabin boy.

 

[Anti Federalist]

Both vessels have VDR (data recorders) systems, and video surveillance systems.

Won't be too hard to suss out what happened exactly and who said or did what to whom.

Based on the AIS plot posted above, all you really need to know is what was the Fitz's heading at the time of collision?

If it was NW - around 320 degrees or so, then the Crystal did reverse course prior to the collision.

 

[Anti Federalist]

That breaks my heart.

It is a tragedy, especially for the families...hope I'm not coming off too flippant or clinical.

 

[angelatc]

nm - new posts howed up after I hit enter

 

[Anti Federalist]

While the cause of the accident has yet to be determined, Japan’s public broadcaster NHK said the ACX Crystal had made a sharp turn shortly before the collision.

That's consistent with what I see on the AIS track.

If I had to fathom a guess, I'm thinking that was an "oh shit", last minute effort to avoid collision.

What this is showing me is that the Crystal was on a steady course and speed and if you look you see they made a radical turn to starboard...then resumed an unsteady course and then reversed course back to the scene of the collision. But the time stamps don't match up...but that is not unusual to have the time settings wrong.

(And yes, I realize they are UTC)

The clickbaiters and Interwebs are already howling about how they "rammed" them and that this was probably Philippine muslim ISIS terrorism.

Shrugs...who knows?

The VDR of the radio transmissions and pilothouse conversations will reveal what happened.

 

[angelatc]

The clickbaiters and Interwebs are already howling about how they "rammed" them and that this was probably Philippine muslim ISIS terrorism.
.

Yeah, the "Merica First crowd is already to start WWIII over this.

 

[Lamp]

Yeah, the "Merica First crowd is already to start WWIII over this.

What a giant bunch of hypocritical cunts.

 

[Zippyjuan]

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...sailors-found-damaged-destroyer-after-n773721

Bodies of 7 Missing U.S. Sailors Found in Destroyer Damaged in Collision

The bodies of seven U.S. sailors missing after a Navy destroyer collided with a container ship off Japan were found in flooded berthing compartments, a defense official said.

The U.S. 7th Fleet said in a statement Sunday morning local time that "a number of sailors that were missing" were found in flooded compartments. The fleet commander would not give an exact number of the bodies found because family notifications were still being made. He said a search and rescue effort was ended.

"I ask that you [keep] your thoughts and prayers for the family members and the crew," U.S. 7th Fleet commander Vice Admiral Joseph P. Aucoin said at a press conference Sunday afternoon local time.

The USS Fitzgerald collided with the Philippine-flagged merchant ship the ACX Crystal at around 2:30 a.m. Saturday local time (1:30 p.m. Friday ET) about 56 nautical miles southwest of Yokosuka, officials said. A defense official told NBC News that the bodies of all seven sailors have been found.

 

[Anti Federalist]

From Reuters, via zerohedge:

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-...eadly-collision-bodies-seven-us-sailors-found

Meanwhile, according to Reuters Japanese media reported that local authorities were looking into the possibility of "endangerment of traffic caused by professional negligence", but it was not clear whether that might apply to either or both of the vessels. The U.S. Navy said the collision happened at about 2:30 a.m. local time (1730 GMT Friday), while the Japanese Coast Guard said it was 1:30 a.m. local time.

That is consistent with the AIS time stamp and the statements from Yusan Shipping.

 

[Anti Federalist]

Also from zerohedge:

Among the many lingering questions that should be asked is why was the radar and communication system on the Fitzgerald turned off? Also, why was US navy fleet and related satellite coverage from Hawaii and Guam MIA, and with the ships on collision course, why nobody was alerted especially since 2AM in Japan means it was working hours in the USA. A separate question: what and who was on that Philippine flag containership heading into Tokyo?

I have seen no confirmation of that statement actually being true.

 

[Zippyjuan]

Also from zerohedge:



I have seen no confirmation of that statement actually being true.

I don't find anybody else making the claim either.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jun/16/us-navy-destroyer-collides-ship-japan

While the cause of the accident has yet to be determined, Japan’s public broadcaster NHK said the ACX Crystal had made a sharp turn shortly before the collision.

 

[Anti Federalist]

I don't find anybody else making the claim either.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jun/16/us-navy-destroyer-collides-ship-japan

While the cause of the accident has yet to be determined, Japan’s public broadcaster NHK said the ACX Crystal had made a sharp turn shortly before the collision.

That's consistent with what I see on the AIS track.

If I had to fathom a guess, I'm thinking that was an "oh shit", last minute effort to avoid collision.

Will all come down to timing...who did what, when.

 

[Schifference]

I would think even if US was totally at fault, they would be reluctant to accept responsibility.

 

[phill4paul]

I would think even if US was totally at fault, they would be reluctant to accept responsibility.

New Lt. Commander on my aircraft carrier, USS Midway, back in the 80's was pulling out of Hong Kong. Forgot to call to raise the aircraft elevators. Took the top off a Chinese junk boat.
Aboard the ship we had a daily paper. In the "Wanted: For buy, sale, trade." section there was an ad that read "For sale Chinese junker. Slight wear and tear but seaworthy. Negotiable. Contact Lt. Commander XXX."
Lol. I'm sure the Navy taxpayers, paid for it.

 

[Anti Federalist]

New Lt. Commander on my aircraft carrier, USS Midway, back in the 80's was pulling out of Hong Kong. Forgot to call to raise the aircraft elevators. Took the top off a Chinese junk boat.
Aboard the ship we had a daily paper. In the "Wanted: For buy, sale, trade." section there was an ad that read "For sale Chinese junker. Slight wear and tear but seaworthy. Negotiable. Contact Lt. Commander XXX."
Lol. I'm sure the Navy taxpayers, paid for it.

D'Oh!