Posted on 06/20/2017 8:43:40 AM PDT by Cecily
The Navy is investigating the horrifying possibility that some of those who died on the USS Fitzgerald when it sank may have been trapped alive in rapidly flooding compartments as emergency hatches were closed, it has emerged.
Cargo ship the ACX Crystal slammed into the side of the US destroyer off the Japanese coast while much of the rest of the crew were asleep on Saturday.
The cargo ship's bow, which protrudes underneath the water, punctured the steel armor of the ship, opening a hole into the quarters where more than 100 sailors slept.
Emergency hatches were closed on the compromised berthing compartments to stop the ship from sinking.
Now it's suspected that some of the seven men who died aboard the ship were locked in those rooms as they were flooded, Good Morning America reported.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Only after all efforts have been exhausted and it is clear the ship will founder do you consider saving your own skin.
Those folks were awakened by this ramming whether intentional or not. They didn’t know. I assume they followed procedure that is drilled into them. This article speculates that the men were alive. Maybe they were. Maybe they were injured upon impact. We don’t know. It is a terrible tragedy.
I was looking at the ship’s Facebook page and noticed that the ship had been involved in some joint Navy exercises a week ago. I haven’t had a chance to ask my Navy family members anything about this, but I was wondering how fatigued a crew might be after intense training. It is so baffling that the crew did not awaken the captain. That means they were unaware that there was anything near them.
A moron wrote the article.The ship did not sink.These writers don’t know squat.Most are little pajama boys.
Plus the air on the upper decks is just more breathable.
I served on a destroyer. The ops berthing compartment where I slept stretched all of the way from port to starboard. There was one hatch. Same with the berthing areas for the deck force and snips. Floor space in a small ship is in short supply. Adding additional hatches is not easily done.
Really seems like “Nautical Jihad”
Why the insane U-turn...?
Cuz it was DELIBERATE.
No. The container ship was on autopilot in a sea lane. Autopilot was disengaged and the ship turned around once the crew realized something had hit the ship.
Same question — ‘when it sank’?
First I heard or read that it sank. Later in the article, it says the ship was towed.
I think Matt updated his view of the incident, the wild U-turn was after the collision, not before, so it’s much more understandable.
There should be at least TWO - and many times three! - man-sized exit holes from evey manned compartment below the nominal waterline
= = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Does ANYONE have any idea of what safety factors may have been given up to handle SWOBs and other ‘confused’ genders?
Does the CO still have a Sea Cabin in the ‘New Navy’
ALSO- If it was the firm desire to flip the Fitz over, she would have been flipped over.. When you consider the time lapse etc I have a feeling that the ‘BIG” turn was the Freighter returning to the scene for Rescue Ops. If the ships commo was ‘destroyed’ was/is there a ‘Radio 2 or 3’?
As to the ‘delay’ I am sure all involved had many more things on their mind than to let the CG get the ‘full picture’ immediately...
I am sure a few SOSs were sent out....OH WAIT? we no longer have a safe, reliable means of comm....
Sorry folks, in Unka Sugars Navy (at least my part of it) the ship is first, we are just passengers and working to make sure it completes its assigned duties...
I am sure it hasn’t changed all that much but a USN ship underway is basically a WARSHIP, ready to engage if necessary.
Again, all that may have changed....
RIP to the lost souls.....
Fair Winds, Following Seas....
There are no “hairpin” u turns on ships let alone one of this size,weight and stature. This is a lumbering freight vessel
Does anyone know if either ship's guidance systems can be remotely hacked wirelessly or hijacked by some other means? One of these ships was intentionally steered into the other!
The MSM is dead to many of us... —
The safety features installed on our ships, however advanced, cannot account for every foreseeable danger or circumstance.
My heart breaks for these shipmates and their families. I do not in any way minimize the loss of life. That said, my read of available reports is that had they not set "zebra" on that part of the ship, the ship would have been lost, along with many more lives.
One of the oldest nautical moral dilemmas and the answer is always the same answer. The ship and crew is more important than the entirety of the crew.
Oops.. tried to edit and and screwed up my last sentence. Should read. The ship and crew is more important than any individual member of the crew.
Yes, I thought too it was Nautical Jihad. slo-mo van crushing pedestrians/ in another medium.
The flight deck of a carrier is always a dangerous place. There have probably been more sailors lost while working on a flight deck than from a flooding situation after a collision. Right now wer are focused on the recent tragedy and rightly so. God bless you and all of those who serve.
FWIW on local radio they reported a mother of a sailor on it
said that her son told her that he kept diving down to try to get shipmates.
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