Posted on 02/10/2019 11:24:51 AM PST by GrootheWanderer
good article, great graphics
Perhaps they came adrift when the other ship came aboard? But, it is an excellent point, and must be considered along with the many other indicators that this crew and their leaders were not ready to perform their duties at sea. Even an infantryman like me can see the red flags.
Thanks for posting this incredible and sad story about tragedy and extreme bravery by a tired crew on a ship with a lot of serious problems, ignored by the Navy brass.
So many things in the article make no sense:
Benson had been the XO prior to fleeting up to CO. As XO, he was responsible for ensuring the crew was trained.
The CO spent ‘hours putting the midwatch team together’? Every ship has a Senior Watch Officer, normally the Combat Systems Officer on this class of ship. Where was she in this process?
There’s just no way the teams in CIC couldn’t have known the degraded state of their surface search radars. Given that, the Tactical Action Officer should have made several trips to the bridge, along with the Surface Coordinator.
The XO should have been on the bridge if the CO was not planning to be there.
Have we lost this much common sense in the two decades, when we relied more on the standard issue MK I MOD IV eyeball? How could the DESRON allow a ship to leave the pier when most of the watchstanders couldn’t even pass a simple COLREGS Rules of the Road test?
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rlmorel, the narrative at https://features.propublica.org/navy-accidents/uss-fitzgerald-destroyer-crash-crystal/ appears to contain some details of which I, at least, was unaware.
That pertains, specifically, to descriptions of the Fitz' heeling and spinning motions, as it transited the collision.
Of course, the article maintains the totally bogus fiction that it was the ACX Crystal that hit the Fitzgerald; not that the Fitzgerald rammed the Crystal -- as all dynamic and damage evidence indicates...
Your take on this?
FRegards,
TXnMA
Another B.O.social experiment gone horribly wrong. Doesn’t give much confidence in some of our Navy.
The careers of officers involved are effectively over. The senior ranked officers will be allowed to finish their careers and retire. The junior officers responsible will not be allowed to renew their commission.
Thanks for your great answer, which has the ring of truth. However...
I was thinking more of the younger and lower-ranking sailors. I'm sure the facts of the incident circulated among members of the crew rapidly, and those people — if they stay in the Navy — will talk and spread what they know everywhere. I was wondering if the Politically Correct Navy will allow that to happen, or if they will act to keep it hushed up.
Of course, I've never been in the Navy, so perhaps that's a hopeless assignment. The truth will eventually get out no matter what the higher-ups do.
In a situation like this, unless some enlisted person is found to guilty of dereliction of duty, the officers will bear the weight of the penalties.
Windows 2000 no less. Sheesh!
May very well have been secured. But secured enough not to be let loose after getting T-boned by a 1000 ton vessel?
Excuse me 30,000 ton vessel
looking at the photos of Fitzgerald’s damage, IMO Crystal hit her. The flooding in the berthing compartment was where Crystal’s bulbous bow pierced the hull. The damage to the superstructure and CO’s cabin aft of the bridge was from higher up on Crystals bow.
And it’s not getting any better. I have a friend whose child just deployed to 7th Fleet. Their first complaint was that no one seemed to have time to train them. This is on the last administration and a feckless congress that fails to remedy the budget sequestration situation that imposes undue demands on the military budget.
I have to readily admit I am no expert on physics in collisions, but I do know that when two objects collide, when one has three times the mass of the other, one continues in the direction it is going, and one bounces off and is subject to all manner of gyrations.
I read the article, and while they say more than once that the ACX Crystal slammed into the Fitzgerald, I am not sure they meant that the ACX Crystal did any more than steam in a straight line...though they do use verbiage that makes it sound that way.
There were a few things that did catch my attention:
The graphic looks pretty much like you had postulated, and a good one:
And then there was this:
"...Benson strode to his captain’s chair. He needed to rescue the ship. But the instant he sat, he began to slide out. His forearms curled involuntarily toward his body, as though he were lifting an invisible barbell. His hands bent at the wrists and folded down and away from his body..."
I work in medicine, and when you see people assume this posture described, it usually indicates a pretty severe brain trauma. It is characteristic (I think it is called either decorticate in the way they described which I think is a shade less serious, or decerebrate posturing, which indicates something slightly more serious, depending on the specifics of the positioning.). It is a bad sign either way, but can help diagnose.
All in all, I didn't care for the tone. It was sympathetic to the officers on the deck, I thought, who performed poorly. There is no doubt they had poor training and leadership, and those responsible should be punished, but even on points they knew the procedure for they didn't follow them, so they are not sympathetic figures in my mind.
Also, the little tidbit about the Radar Technician being on extended medical leave. Hm. Wonder what that is all about.
It is pretty clear the ACX Crystal hit her... but she steered into it. Kind of like the old “your face hit my fist” thing...
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True -- but superstructure damage on the Fitzgerald was shoved AFTWARD, (This article says the captain's quarters were shoved back 20 feet...)
Conversely, the damage on the Xtal was all shoved FORWARD. (Damage on the AFT side of the hawsepipe, only.)
Believe me, this is something I have well-documented in photos -- and rlmorel and I have spent a LOT of time and analytical effort on this.
The Xtal was making ~18.5 knots, and the Fitz was overtaking her, making 22 knots.
When we're all done absorbing this new detail info, I'll share more graphic data on this than you (or at least one FReeper) can stand... '-)
Bottom line: the Fitzgerald rammed the Xtal.
Later, FRiend...
TXnMA
Example: I believe when we put all the angular ("list") data in temporal sequence, we will see exactly the sort of "rock & roll" action going on that we discussed.
And yes, the lighter Fitz "bounced off of" the massive Xtal -- and "rode up on" her submerged bow "ram"...
Later,
TXnMA
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