Posted on 08/21/2017 8:25:04 AM PDT by Djl3668
Today the USS McCain collided a merchant vessel, marking the 4th incident in the past year at the Navy. The timeline is as follows:
8/19/2016 — USS Louisiana 5/09/2017 — USS Lake Champlain 6/17/2017 — USS Fitzgerald 8/21/2017 — USS McCain These ships share similarities, they are all based in Yokosuka Naval Base, and the USS McCain & USS Fitzgerald are both part of Destroyer Squadron 15 and the Seventh Fleet.
While accidents and mistakes do happen, the number of collisions in the past year is extremely rare, and it is now within the realm of possibility that these accidents were not accidents. Both China and Russia have tested their cyber-warfare capabilities at sea with success.
(Excerpt) Read more at realcleardefense.com ...
You drive your car into a fire hydrant in broad daylight and claim your GPS was hacked? It’s the same thing.
I am thinking either there is a Bowie Bergdahl at the helm or the ship’s control systems are being overridden by a foreign state...
Exactly.
I am convinced it is poor training and leadership. It is very troubling.
I wonder if it can be undone in peacetime. I am not convinced of it. The ranks may be filled with people to whom operations readiness is not important. And how do we get them out?
Photo from gCaptain. Looks like she really got whacked. Today's merchant ships energy-saving bows remind me of those used on the ancient Greek galleys.
Personally, and as an old swabbie I hate to say it, it was slovenly seamanship. Today's navy "ain't what it used to be".
It's funny to you because you think I believe the accident was the result of a Chinese hack. There are several other possible causes even with an alert bridge. Negligence is simply the low-hanging fruit.
Think I saw you once in a brain-storming session: you were the guy sitting back in his chair with his arms crossed and his chin on his chest.
Have a nice day.
Andy, just to be clear I didn’t say it was hacking (but do not entirely discount it). Rather than running into a fire hydrant let’s consider the possibility that due to several other possibilities the environment was more like an Indy 500 race. I. e., I am not ready to hang the crew on the bridge until we have more info (and with the several most recent fatalities it would be today’s equivalent of a hanging).
Navy to Pause Operations, Review Collisions, With 10 Missing
It doesn’t matter. This was a failure of alertness and observation. It’s not like it’s easy for a merchant ship to sneak up on you. If the US ship has trouble detecting an approaching merchie, how the hell are they going to survive in an actual hostile environment?
Well, you can entirely discount it because ship is under the total control of an OOD with eyeballs and a tanker, even 5 nms away us a looming hulk that you can't avoid seeing. And the things don't maneuver so well.
And no the sea-lanes are not bumper to bumper with dodgem merchant vessels. And a Burke class DDG has far more power and maneuverability, even if the tanker were bent on having a collision. It's like chasing a Ferrari with a Zamboni.
Assuming that you mean that their 'active' radar was off to avoid the radar signal being detected, still the crew on 'watch' had eyeballs, binoculars, and the cargo ship had it's lights on. How could they miss seeing an approaching ship ?
Occam’s Razor. Bad, lax, seamanship.
Good post.
Trying to make more out of this is just a waste of time, back seat driving.
Shit happens, and usually shit happens in threes... So, we might have another coming soon.
No. Its more likely that we are reaping what the commies in charge for eight years have sown.
Wow great point!
Crazy, who the hell knows.
Yes plausible
Absolutely true, but if the data is “spoofed” and indicates you’re somewhere you aren’t, that’s a different matter entirely.
True.
Correct. Both cases of large automated ships hitting navy ships. Not sure why the govt doesn’t want to state what is obvious to the public. The second tower has been hit. What is the point of denial?
"Yo... Captain.... there's a really, really big freighter in front of us. Can we, like... slow down and um... maybe turn 90 degree to the left?"
(face palm)
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