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. It’s 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 Navy’s Seventh Fleet. “It could have been much worse.”
No different than my experience in the Army in Pleiku in 66-67 and the experience of many others. We'd be put on perimeter watch with rifles but no bullets because we never had training in anything except how to clean the rifle. We'd be given telephones that did not work (reliably) or walkie talkies with bad batteries. The perimeter spotlights would be shining toward us, into our eyes as often as shining outward where there might be an intruder.
That Pleiku did not have an incident was pure luck.
The idiocy of government employees in Vietnam is one reason I concluded government does not work... big government (550,000 in Vietnam) works even less.
Agreed. I saw (then) classified video once of the Navy putting one trough the paces. I was stuned to say the least.
The Philippines are teeming with Muslims. Something to think about.
In an earlier thread I saw a graphic depicting the path that container ship took. It is bizarre. The Container ship does indeed turn completely around and head straight at the Navy ship.
The article also mentioned that it was a Philippine ship. My first thought was "Muslim Pilot going Jihad on the Navy."
If there was a Muslim hand in this it was on the Fitz.
No way a container ship can ram a destroyer.
.
>> “ Why didn’t they see this ship on the radar?” <<
Obviously no one was manning the bridge!
But this was a deliberate attack, and the freighter tried to sink them but missed, and went back for a second shot.
The crew missed about a half hour of maneuvering by the freighter completely. Somebody needs to stand trial for desertion.
.
From a dead stop to all ahead - full, she throws a BiG rooster tail and looks like a speed boat.
It would seem dereliction, at the least, given the sheer size of the cargo ship (driven by idiots or madmen).
was
1) The radar off or down?
2) No one manning the radar?
or what? Bizarre.
Please. Just stop.
Also the transponder on the cargo ship was turned off and the lights were off.
Unfounded rumor and innuendo. We would not have the tracking data on the container ship if the transponder was off.
Thanks for that post.
Hey, Navy guys! How long does it take for a destroyer at cruising speed to make a 90 degree turn?
Thank you for posting the Navy Hymn. Most appropriate!
I will be very interested to learn the details of this incident. At this point, I am having a great deal of difficulty understanding how it happened.
Here’s an analogy for you:
You’re driving an 18-wheeler on a football field at night. The trailer is fully loaded. Your headlights aren’t working.
There’s a cat on the field.
Your task: Run over the cat.
With what?
That’s a beautiful prayer. Thank you.
Mrs. AV
What kind of ship do you think was involved? 100’s of thousands of tons?
“Hey, Navy guys! How long does it take for a destroyer at cruising speed to make a 90 degree turn?”
Emergency hard-a-port!
I’m going to make a SWAG (scientific wild ass guess) and say at 30 knots about 30 seconds to effect an emergency turn based on this video.
Damn right, the heroic activity resulted in saving the ship after the impact. Great work in DCC.
I see now she was 29,000-ton ACX Crystal.
I was thinking she was bigger.
Oops that’s oil tanker weights.
Still, obviously she’s much smaller. I don’t usually go to the NYT site.
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