Posted on 06/19/2017 1:59:24 PM PDT by NRx
As an American destroyer cruised off the waters of Japan in clear weather in the early hours of Saturday, only a few dozen of the crew of 350 were likely to be awake: standing watch, keeping the engines running, manning the bridge.
Then, Navy officers with decades of experience at sea say, there were probably minutes of sheer terror aboard the Fitzgerald before the collision with an enormous container ship that killed seven sailors.
My guess is they suddenly saw the lights of the other ship coming toward them and tried to veer off, said retired Adm. James G. Stavridis, whose book Destroyer Captain recounts his time commanding a similar ship in the mid-1990s. Suddenly your ship is sinking under you. Its terrifying.
Navy leaders on Sunday hailed the efforts of the surviving sailors who struggled to seal off compartments and pump out the water that poured in through gaping holes torn in the starboard side.
Heroic efforts prevented the flooding from catastrophically spreading, which could have caused the ship to founder or sink, said Vice Adm. Joseph P. Aucoin, commander of the Navys Seventh Fleet. It could have been much worse.
O God of spirits and of all flesh, Who hast trampled down death and overthrown the Devil, and given life to Thy world, do Thou, the same Lord, give rest to the souls of Thy departed servants in a place of brightness, a place of refreshment, a place of repose, where all sickness, sighing, and sorrow have fled away. Pardon every transgression which they have committed, whether by word or deed or thought. For Thou art a good God and lovest mankind; because there is no man who lives yet does not sin, for Thou only art without sin, Thy righteousness is to all eternity, and Thy word is truth.
For Thou are the Resurrection, the Life, and the Repose of Thy servants who have fallen asleep, O Christ our God, and unto Thee we ascribe glory, together with Thy Father, who is from everlasting, and Thine all-holy, good, and life-creating Spirit, now and ever unto ages of ages. Amen.
Memory eternal! Memory eternal! Memory eternal!
Hi.
Disregard.
I thought I saw an incident in Halethorpe on another thread.
I don’t believe related to the accident at sea.
(”accident”)
5.56mm
Died breaking into a car.
Odd that.
5.56mm
Sad.
Early to speculate... but the night crew got lulled into a sense of complacency. No way the technology didn’t tell them a ship was bearing down on them. And the watch did see something?
Where was everyone in the control room? Why didn’t they see this ship on the radar?
Sorry I don’t understand something here.
A floating Walmart rammed, and very nearly sunk, a fully armed and capable Navy Destroyer?
How is this shiite allowed to happen?
Don’t just sit there, Blow it out of the water.
more probing the lines . . .
I’d be more content with them firing on and sinking the cargo ship for bearing down in it.
Too late. Fired upon or not all those tons of steel are just going to keep coming.
Eternal Father, strong to save,
Whose arm hath bound the restless wave,
Who bidd’st the mighty ocean deep
Its own appointed limits keep;
Oh, hear us when we cry to Thee,
For those in peril on the sea!
O Christ! Whose voice the waters heard
And hushed their raging at Thy word,
Who walked’st on the foaming deep,
And calm amidst its rage didst sleep;
Oh, hear us when we cry to Thee,
For those in peril on the sea!
Most Holy Spirit! Who didst brood
Upon the chaos dark and rude,
And bid its angry tumult cease,
And give, for wild confusion, peace;
Oh, hear us when we cry to Thee,
For those in peril on the sea!
O Trinity of love and power!
Our brethren shield in danger’s hour;
From rock and tempest, fire and foe,
Protect them wheresoe’er they go;
Thus evermore shall rise to Thee
Glad hymns of praise from land and sea.
“...there were probably minutes of sheer terror aboard..”
If there were minutes of terror someone on the DDG really screwed up. The Fitz could easily move well away from danger in a short period of time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Vih4tGmqjs
I will say that I was surprised that the Crystal could manage 25 knots.
Amen.
Thank you.
Personnel Specialist 1st Class Xavier Alec Martin, 24, from Halethorpe, Maryland
**
I saw this young man’s broken-hearted father interviewed on the Baltimore news last sight. So very sad.
sight = night
Halethorpe, Md - I saw the same thing and thought to myself I’ve never heard of this unincorporated town before and now I see it mentioned twice in a single day in unrelated articles.
True. Probably 100’s of thousands of tons.
A Burke DDG can do a complete 180 in less than a mile and can go from a dead stop to 40kts in 2 miles.
This crew screwed up and cost 7 their lives.
Heroes? Seems they had a lot of sailors sleeping. I defer to Navy types as I know zip about ships, I know our Air Force pilots were both VFR and IFR. I would think Navy Captains and others can sail with instruments regardless of weather.
[A floating Walmart rammed, and very nearly sunk, a fully armed and capable Navy Destroyer?]
Yeah, that thing is probably the size of 2 or 3 Wal*Mart buildings. Tragic.
I don;t understand it either. A United States Naval warship collides with a container ship. It didn’t see this thing on radar? WTF?
The Philippines are teeming with Muslims. Something to think about.
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