not sure what the pilots do when it comes to DC, maybe they thought comms was still up, but i'd still like to know
Posted on 06/25/2017 7:21:19 PM PDT by TXnMA
By: Sam LaGrone
The crew of the guided-missile destroyer that was struck by a merchant ship on Friday off the coast of Japan fought to save the ship for an hour before the first calls went out for help, Japanese investigators now believe.
According to the current operational theory of Japanese investigators, the deadly collision between USS Fitzgerald (DDG-62) and the Philippine-flagged merchant ship ACX Crystal knocked out the destroyer’s communications for an hour, while the four-times-larger merchant ship was unaware of what it hit until it doubled back and found the damaged warship, two sources familiar with the ongoing Japanese investigation told USNI News on Wednesday.
Investigators now think Crystal was transiting to Tokyo on autopilot with an inattentive or asleep crew when the merchant vessel struck a glancing blow on the destroyer’s starboard side at about 1:30 AM local time on Friday. When the crew of Crystal realized they had hit something, the ship performed a U-turn in the shipping lane and sped back to the initial site of the collision at 18 knots, discovered Fitzgerald, and radioed a distress call to authorities at about 2:30 AM. U.S. Navy officials initially said the collision occurred at around the time of the distress call at 2:30 AM.
Meanwhile, when Crystal’s port bow hit Fitzgerald, the warship was performing a normal transit off the coast of Japan, USNI News understands. Above the waterline, the flared bow of Crystal caved in several spaces in the superstructure, including the stateroom of commanding officer Cmdr. Bryce Benson.
The impact not only ripped a hole in the steel superstructure in the stateroom but also shifted the contents and shape of the steel so Benson was “squeezed out the hull and was outside the skin of the ship,” a sailor familiar with the damage to the ship told USNI News. “He’s lucky to be alive.”
Fitzgerald sailors had to bend back the door of the stateroom to pluck Benson from the side of the ship and bring him inside. He and two other sailors were later evacuated from the ship via a Japanese helicopter to a Navy hospital at Yokosuka.
Pictures of Benson’s stateroom from the door show the steel bent back to reveal open air, and a photo of the ship’s exterior pier-side shows almost the entire stateroom was crushed.
Meanwhile, below decks, the glancing blow of Crystal’s bulbous bow had ripped a 10-feet-by-10-feet to 14-feet-by-14-feet hole below the waterline of the ship, flooding a machinery space the berthing area that was home to about half of the crew, the sailor said.
Over the weekend, U.S. 7th Fleet commander Vice Adm. Joseph Aucoin confirmed the spaces that were affected by the collision.
“Three compartments were severely damaged,” Aucoin said at the Saturday press conference. “One machinery room and two berthing areas — berthing areas for 116 of the crew.”
The seven sailors who died aboard were sealed in the berthing area behind a watertight door as the ship’s company fought to keep the ship afloat, according to a description of events the Navy told the family of Fire Controlman 1st Class Gary Leo Rehm Jr., according to The Associated Press. It’s yet unclear if the ship’s watch had time to sound the collision alarm or call general quarters before Crystal hit the destroyer.
In addition to the damage to the spaces, the collision knocked out Fitzgerald’s communications for the better part of an hour. At about the same time the crew was able to reactivate their backup Iridium satellite communications to radio for help, Crystal arrived on the scene and called in its own distress call, the sailor told USNI News.
investigators are being tight-lipped about details of the investigation, even inside the service. However, information USNI News learned from the Japan Coast Guard investigation indicates Fitzgerald was operating normally when the collision occurred, raising questions more questions regarding why Benson wasn’t on the bridge when a contact was so close to the destroyer.
On Monday, U.S 7th Fleet began a flag officer-led Judge Advocate General Manual (JAGMAN) investigation to determine the facts of the collision, as well as a separate U.S. Navy safety investigation. The U.S. Coast Guard will take lead in a maritime casualty investigation.
As for the ship, five days after collision active damage control efforts are ongoing to prevent further damage to the hull. The force of Crystal’s impact combined with the flood not only dented but twisted the ship’s hull. Crews are continuing to pump water in and out of the ship to keep Fitzgerald stable.
Naval Sea Systems Command is now assessing if the ship can be repaired in Japan or would have to be transported to the U.S. for repairs.
While investigation and repairs are ongoing, the ship’s crew has been given time away from the ship in an attempt to recover from the collision. The burden of ships’ watches is being shared by other crews on the Yokosuka waterfront, Navy officials told USNI News on Wednesday. Both Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson and Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy Steve Giordano both visited Yokosuka to speak with Fitzgerald sailors and their families.
Be wary of fringe websites and purveyors of conspiracy theories. The sea remains a dangerous place and it only takes a small combination of human errors to create a cluster fuck. Everything I’m hearing, from sane and reasonably informed sources are saying that this was an accident, albeit one that should not have happened. When you have a 40,000 ton container ship running on auto pilot in one of the busier shipping lanes, the odds of that ending well just on that basis alone, are not good.
Does Benson get to keep that plaque?
You'd think they'd have a satellite phone for backup communications - or something.
My guess is that that first hour was (without a Captain) "nothing but "***holes and elbows" -- trying to save a ship with a big hole in the hull.
Not sure comms was a priority. I, for one, have been studying this since the news came out -- and I never thought of the comms in the birds...
Good thinking!
“The captain’s state room door has a plaque with all of the former CO’s names on it. Every ship has that.”
It’s a really cool plaque, but I guess Benson cannot take it home with him.
“The impact not only ripped a hole in the steel superstructure in the stateroom but also shifted the contents and shape of the steel so Benson was “squeezed out the hull and was outside the skin of the ship,””
I’m guessing that woke him up.
Anyone else have curiosity about how fragile the communications are in the even of a hostile fire hit?
Yes, this was a major crash, but I would have expected a bit more communication redundancy for just such a damage event.
not sure what the pilots do when it comes to DC, maybe they thought comms was still up, but i'd still like to know
You need to stop with the McCain stuff.
You might want to revise your post: "...the "official" version is that the missiles on McCain's aircraft fired themselves..."
The official version is that that stray voltage on a rocket pod on another plane (a F-4 Phantom) caused a Zuni rocket to fire.
McCain's plane that day had only iron bombs on it. And it wasn't even hit by the missile, it was the plane next to him.
I am asking you as a FRiend to just give it a rest. It does you a disservice.
yup, see post #8
It is true it isn’t an official navy publication, but USNI is considered to be the professional voice of the Navy, and is the single most influential non-official source. But as you correctly said, not official.
Going back to my Navy days of OOD on the surface (Officer of the Deck on a Nuc submarine), I too wonder how this could have happened.
I haven't heard what the visibility was that night but since I am sitting on the Pacific coast right now (US coastline), the fog out here can be pretty thick. Therefore, maybe the visibility was such that the lookouts did NOT see the ship until seconds before the collusion.
With a typical junior officer OOD at night, maybe he called it (based on radar/AIS) that the merchant ship was going to pass on his (Navy) starboard side but actually they were on a collusion course. Maybe a watch stander disagreed but at 2 am, the OOD assured him that he had contact XYZ taken care of.
It seems just as likely that low visibility, lots of contacts and some confusion about who was who, they just plain blew it.
I feel confident that if my first CO had not been called by me with a close contact EVEN IF WE DIDN'T collide, it would have seemed just as bad for my career.
I do remember when we were on the surface transiting to a port visit in Scotland that some confusion happened where two surface contacts were confused. I was U/I (under instruction, before I was qualified) and one of the more senior Lieutenants made a major screw up. Fortunately, there are probably only two of us who might remember that night. But stuff happens, that was also on mid watch.
You get the credit, FRiend...nice job with it!
the ship’s crew has been given time away from the ship in an attempt to recover from the collision
Let us hope these hardy warriors stand up to combat a bit better.
I am curious about the image showing the diagram at the website. I think someone would get in hot water for taking that image if they find out who took it.
I would expect that radio (comm shack) was near the captain's quarters. Since the CO was lucky to be alive afterwards, I would expect that maybe major damage was done to the comm shack. With people trying to combat flooding, saving lives etc., any radio message was probably not at the top of priorities. I read somewhere that they did communicate by Satphone which means you are probably right,
Remember this is just another media outlet. Who knows what was sent and received, or when it actually was. Nobody is going to volunteer anything or correct any misinformation until they themselves are sure about what happened and form a plan to minimize damages and negative publicity as much as possible.
Freegards
Perhaps I let my dislike for the guy cloud my judgement, not recognizing that I am besmirching the character of fellow FReepers in the process.
Since you asked so nice, I hereby pledge to refrain from accusing John McCain for starting the fire on The USS Forrestal.
Mod Squad, feel free to delete my post #22.
No. The board wants the evidence intact. This is about to get very nasty indeed.
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