sure-nuff looks intentional to me
Posted on 06/18/2017 8:24:58 AM PDT by ColdOne
The ACX Crystal, a container ship, collided with USS Fitzgerald, and seven U.S. sailors were found deceased inside a damaged berthing compartment.
“A number of Sailors’ bodies that were missing from the collision between USS Fitzgerald (DDG 62) and a merchant ship have been found,” the US 7th Fleet said in a news release on June 17, without specifying the number. However, CNN reported that all of the seven missing sailors’ bodies were tragically found in USS Fitzgerald’s flooded compartments.
The tragedy unfolded on June 16 and ignited a massive search effort by the Japanese Coast Guard and U.S. Navy. It’s not yet clear which ship was at fault and what caused the col
(Excerpt) Read more at heavy.com ...
What track? All that ziz-zagging and loop-de-looping in a busy shipping channel is not a "track".
What happened to “Any ship within 1/2 a mile radius from my ship better get out of that radius or you will be fired upon.”
It appears as though ACX WAS on a steady track until incident, made a 90% starboard avoidance turn, then returned to initial course.
Then, after assessing situation with awakened captain, returned to scene, loitered a while, then resumed course.
Why the Fitz would not ask her to join 'man overboard' search is quite strange.
In the captain’s “night orders” he ALWAYS gives the closest point of approach upon which to wake him up. ALWAYS.
It’s inconceivable that the skipper was in his cabin and was awakened by a collision. At one mile out (or two, three, whatever the CPA given in the night orders) he should have been awakened. In coastal waters he should be in his “at sea” cabin very close to the bridge, like a 20 second walk at most.
Many things just do not add up here.
Exactly. I do fault the OOD though for not getting the CO to the bridge. In my day, in the “night sailing orders” the CO would always set a minimum CPA to wake him and get him to the bridge, with the overall instruction to wake him up if in doubt. A u-turning ship on an erratic course would be “in doubt.”
The skipper should NOT have been in his cabin, even his close to the bridge at-sea cabin, when impact occurred.
That is on the OOD, and is inexcusable.
Travis, see post 17 above. This was the second incident between Navy war ships and Asian piloted civilian vessels recently. It’s ominous no matter the cause. RIP the poor souls lost.
I agree the skipper should have been on the bridge. I’m pretty sure our CO was always on the bridge when entering or leaving port. I was usually in the CIC with at least half of the OI division. But that was long ago, on a planet far, far away.
My dad was in the merchant service and once told me that if another ship's bearing was constant and closing, you were on a collision course.
I was on the mid-watch in 1952 when we were cruising on the surface, and was manning the radar. I started reporting a contact at something like 10,000 yards, bearing (just a figure) 030. The range kept closing and the bearing stayed the same and I started to pucker. 8,000, 7,000, 6,000 etc. I kept emphasizing "BEARING CONSTANT" to the new ensign who had the conn.
At 2,000 yards, I was preparing myself for a dash up the hatch when the rookie called the skipper. Something like "Sir, I have a contact at 2,000 yards, bearing 030 . . ." I swear, the Old Man was halfway up the hatch before he was finished. Hard aport, starboard engine ahead flank, port engine back full and and we squeaked out of it. That's rookie's butt was bleeding for weeks afterward. It was one big-assed oiler headed for Aruba.
This is the same guy who hit the collision instead of the diving alarm. Nothing like hearing "Clear the bridge!" and then having the collision alarm go off. Guys in the control room reported that he stuck his head down the hatch, grinning like Daffy Duck, and saying "heh, heh, hit the wrong button."
I was transferred a few weeks later and don't know what happened to him, but I think his future in submarines - and elsewhere in the navy - was limited if not non-existent.
I agree. This is very strange.
I can’t imagine, as the distance was closing, that someone didn’t place a wake-up to the Captain. That was my first thought when I heard he was in his cabin when the collision occurred. I must say, I don’t know what it is like on those ships, and it is possible that there are enough data feeds into his berth that the only thing he might have been missing was the panic of the bridge team and the sight of the oncoming vessel. But he should, as Captain, have had even those things.
It will be interesting to see the accounts of crew actions from both ships married to an accurate course and timeline.
Westerner, what was the first incident you are referring to? I may have missed that.
In your account, I can imagine the Captain was livid! All the way down from 10,000 to 2,000 yards...
“JESUS CHRIST, 2000 YARDS? WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?”
How the heck can radar not pick up these ships?
This means it was owned by Japs but crewed by Filipinos.
“Muhamed Olongapongo” cannot be ruled out.
If they don’t very quickly release the radar tracks and ship to ship VHF, I’m suspecting 3rd mate Muhamid Olongapongo.
Like the Pulse nightclub, where they kept the 911 calls from Omar Mateen secret.
If not for the gallant, heroic, actions of the crew for over 16 hours after they were hit to save the ship, the Fitzgerald would have foundered for sure.
sure-nuff looks intentional to me
Yeah and they were running the AIS all the time for stealth?
In any case Crystal was always to starboard of Fitzgerald and so was standon ship, and Fitzgerald's last tun to port was against COLREGS.
Navy scrood up. badly.
I really think the LSM is using the wrong word, Collide is a different word and meaning from RAMMED. The USS Fitz was RAMMED. They is so little damage to a poorly made freighter vs a well built US Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, just the site of the damage is enough evidence plus the erratic course of the freighter. The article does not include that the Captain’s quarters was also destroyed, nor that the berthing area is used on a rotation basis varying by duty hours the crew work.
Two of the Fitzgerald’s berthing areas were flooded after the collision, which occurred at 2:30 a.m. local time Saturday, a time when most of the crew would have been asleep.
The Fitzgerald was about 64 miles south of Yokosuka when the Crystal rammed nose-first into the destroyer’s starboard, or right, side. It was a clear night, but the crash occurred in a busy sea lane.
Photographs showed the side of the Fitzgerald caved in about a third of the way back. The Navy said the collision inflicted significant damage to the destroyer above and below the waterline, flooding berths, a machinery area and the radio room.
Under international maritime rules, a vessel is supposed to give way to another one on its starboard side, and the damage indicates that the Crystal was to the Fitzgerald’s starboard, and therefore had the right of way.
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