I does on occasion happen....
"...the 22-year old Nimitz, now an Ensign, was sent immediately on board USS Decatur (DD-5) to take command. At the time, Decatur had been out of commission for about a year – in some form of inoperative or reserve status in which the ship was not only cold iron but without any crew. When he went on board, still in the whites with sword that he had worn to make his formal call, he was greeted by two Filipino watchmen, since a crew was still being assembled. Surmounting the problems of an idle ship, unbunkered with a scratch crew, ENS Nimitz managed to get Decatur to the dry dock at Subic Bay within the two-and-a-half days demanded by the admiral.
The war scare over, Decatur operated independently for almost two years in Philippine waters. In July 1908, on entering an unfamiliar harbor in Manila Bay she ran aground and had to be towed off the next day. Relieved of command and court-martialed, Nimitz was found guilty of “neglect of duty” and sentenced to a reprimand. The Commander-in-Chief of U.S. Naval Forces Philippines declared in his endorsement, “The promulgation of the proceedings and sentence will be regarded as constituting in itself the reprimand.” Later in life, as an admiral, Nimitz was quick to cite this incident when questioned if anyone who ran a ship aground could have a future in the Navy."
Here is another one, and...this one I know about personally. THIS was quite a day. During the day, I had been sleeping in the cockpit of my plane near the waist cats, when I felt the whole plane shudder...I looked to the rear just in time to see the tail fins of a Tomcat going away from my plane...I saw the plane next to me shake violently, as if it had been collided with, but after thinking about it, I think it was just the wash, because I do not remember one of our planes being damaged. One of our Tomcats had gone over the side with a new Phoenix missle installed, in full sight of a Soviet cruiser that was shadowing us. As I recall, the Tomcat when over the Port side near the waist cats, and the Soviet cruiser was off of our Starboard bow. She saw what happened, and went to cut across our bow (not dangerous...she was probably 3-5 miles ahead of us) to get a better look, but was cut off by one of our escorts.
Later that SAME NIGHT (good God, was this a full moon?) I was again sleeping in the cockpit of my plane (I was an A7-B Plane Captain at the time) was huddled, trying to stay warm, when I was abrubtly awakened by a sharp banging noise. My heart pounding, I looked around, and there looking in at me was one of those guys all dressed in the silver flame-proof suit! Now THAT really scared the crap out of me! I opened the canopy, and the guy said "You better get your ass below and check in, we had a collision with another ship!" The ass end of my plane was hanging out over the starboard side where the collision had taken place (I think I was much further forward from where that happened, though) and I had slept right through it!)
Anyway, here is that summary, and that Captain kept his job.
During the summer of 1976, Bordelon participated in the USS Independence's ORI (Operational Readiness Inspection) and deployed to northern Europe as part of the largest maritime NATO exercise to date, "Teamwork 76". On 14 Sept., while refueling alongside the USS John F. Kennedy, the ships came together and collided. The Bordelon's port bow and some of the superstructure were damaged and the main mast snapped and fell on the signal shack, injuring some of the handling team.
Bordelon, escorted by USS Brumby FF 1044, sailed to the Devonport Royal Navy Yard in Plymouth, England. After 11 days getting repairs and a Pathfinder navigation radar, Bordelon, in company with the USS Kalamazoo AOR 6 and USS Luce DDG 38, proceeded under her own power to Charleston, SC.
On Jan 6th, 1977 XO George Ellis relieved CDR George Pierce. Due to the damage to the superstructure and electronics and the age and condition of the hull, the Bordelon was de-commissioned on Feb. 1, 1977. Cdr. Pierce was cleared of blame during the post-collision inquiry and later commanded the USS Cone DD 866.