Posted on 02/20/2008 5:35:15 AM PST by TigerLikesRooster
MSDF destroyer runs over fishing boat; 2 missing
02/20/2008
THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
A father and son remained missing in waters off the Boso Peninsula on Tuesday night after the Maritime Self-Defense Force Aegis destroyer Atago sliced through their fishing vessel in the morning.
The bow of the Seitoku Maru floats off Nojimazaki, Chiba Prefecture, on Tuesday after the fishing boat was split in two in a collison with the Maritime Self-Defense Force's Atago destroyer. (THE ASAHI SHIMBUN) Cutters from the 3rd Regional Coast Guard Headquarters as well as MSDF ships and helicopters were dispatched to search for Haruo Kichisei, 58, and his son, Tetsuhiro, 23.
According to Coast Guard and MSDF officials, the Atago contacted the Coast Guard around 4:23 a.m. and said the destroyer had collided with a fishing boat at 4:07 a.m. about 40 kilometers south-southwest from Nojimazaki, Chiba Prefecture, at the tip of the Boso Peninsula.
The fishing vessel Seitoku Maru was split in half. Atago crew members searched the area for survivors but were unable to find the two fishermen.
Coast Guard cutters sent to the accident scene searched the two parts of the fishing boat but could find no trace of the two Kichiseis. Only the father's windbreaker was later recovered.
"It is very regrettable that such an accident has occurred, and I extend my deepest apologies to the public," Adm. Eiji Yoshikawa, chief of staff of the MSDF, said. "We will do our utmost in searching for those who were on the fishing boat."
According to officials at the Katsuura fisheries office, the Seitoku Maru and other fishing boats were heading off the coast of Hachijojima island to catch tuna and marlin. The area where the collision occurred was north of the fishing grounds where the Seitoku Maru was headed.
MSDF officials said crew members were on watch as usual. They said Atago's radar system was also operating at the time.
Defense Ministry officials said that two minutes before the accident, Atago's crew on watch saw a green light indicating the fishing boat was ahead to the right of the destroyer.
The Atago started maneuvers to go into reverse to avoid a collision a minute before the actual impact. The fishing boat turned right about 100 meters in front of the Atago, likely to avoid a head-on collision, and the destroyer rammed into the small boat, the officials said.
Crew members told the Defense Ministry they spotted the fishing boat too late.
The Coast Guard is questioning the crew of the Atago, which docked at the MSDF Yokosuka base late in the afternoon. Coast Guard officials suspect both the crew of the MSDF vessel and the fishermen failed to keep a careful watch on where they were heading.
According to MSDF officials, the Atago is the fifth Aegis destroyer in the MSDF fleet. With a standard displacement of 7,750 tons, the Atago is 165 meters long and 21 m wide. It was commissioned in March 2007 and belongs to Escort Flotilla 3 based in Maizuru, Kyoto Prefecture.
The Atago had completed a missile launching exercise in waters off Hawaii and was heading to the Yokosuka base at the time of the collision.
The MSDF has set up an accident investigation committee to look into the cause of the accident.
Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba also instructed officials at the ministry and the SDF to improve communications.
It took about 90 minutes before Ishiba was informed of the accident and about two hours before Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda was told.
"I believe it was possible to inform the individual who bears political responsibility immediately after the accident, even if it is a brief flash report," Ishiba told a news conference Tuesday.
Atago crew members informed the Japan Coast Guard at 4:23 a.m., 16 minutes after the collision.
The information reached the Maritime Staff Office at 4:40 a.m. and the MSDF chief of staff and the Defense Ministry at 5 a.m.
Ishiba was informed at 5:38 a.m. and Fukuda around 6 p.m.
"When there is a possibility of people involved in an accident related to the ministry, the minister should immediately be informed," Fukuda told reporters.
Defense Ministry guidelines stipulate that SDF officers must inform aides to the minister and the senior vice minister of an emergency within an hour of its occurrence, ministry sources said.
In Tuesday's accident, the Maritime Staff Office operation room received information at 4:40 a.m. But it did not contact the minister's aides, and instead informed officials of the Bureau of Operational Policy within the ministry around 5 a.m.
The bureau's officials in turn informed Ishiba at 5:40 a.m.
Not only was the defense minister informed late, but the officials did not go through the proper channels.
The last time a private-sector boat was sunk in a collision with an MSDF vessel was in July 1988, when the submarine Nadashio rammed a fishing boat. Thirty people died in the accident.(IHT/Asahi: February 20,2008)
Ping!
My first underway watch as JOOD leaving harbor and the OOD gave me a piece of advise that I’ve never forgotten. Never expect a small boat to follow the nautical rules of the road, and if there is an option of a bone-headed maneuver open to them, then they’ll take it 99 times out of a hundred.
No ... what's a radar?
Sometimes a statement is so true it needs to be repeated.
Wasn’t a Japanese “fishing” boat sunk by one of our submarines while in a designated training area a little while back?
Sounds like this fishing boat was actually engaged in the practice of fishing.
Based on the article it sounds like the fishing boat was in transit, and whoever was driving fixated on the rules of the road. Ships meeting head on are supposed to pass port-to-port. The fishing boat was to starboard of the destroyer so they weren't really approaching head on, but it looks like the smaller vessel still cut across the bow trying to achieve the port-side passage. What it should have done, since it was already to starboard of the destroyer, was maintain course and speed and pass down the starboard side. Perfectly permissible.
If I'm picturing this correctly, it sounds like the destroyer may have technically had the right-of-way. Regardless of which craft has the ROW, the gross-tonnage rule usually wins out. (Larger ships usually smash small ships to pieces.)
There’s a commander who has a date with a sword.
It's Bushido's fault!
Strictly speaking, yeah, assuming both were on opposing courses. The rules say that two ships approaching head on, each maneuvers to starboard to avoid the other. In this case, the fishing boat was already to starboard rather than approaching head on. Had they maneuvered to port then they would have passed each other safely. But there are a lot of unknowns. It was night, probably in limited visibility, no idea what the actual course was. It's easy to get confused and misjudge distance. Probably more than enough blame to go around for everyone.
control problems? (:>))
I am just glad it wasn’t an American destroyer. Their would be all kinds of repercussions.
Very True...But I wonder who was on the Surface Search watch that night? Fishing boats are the bane of every Navy ship (ever been through the Straights of Messina at night?) and from experience, in a situation where you are close inshore, the operator HAS to track each piece of video that comes up, until it’s ID’d by the lookouts. With the AEGIS system though, there was a bug in the tracking program where the system would drop the track if it wasn’t going a specific speed. The Operator has to keep on top of the machine to make sure he doesn’t lose the picture.
He should have had the Watch Officer right next to him if he lost the track and had every lookout on the phones check ing to see where this guy was. If he wasn’t, then there’s the first person to go in front of the “Long Green Table”.
“Never expect a small boat to follow the nautical rules of the road...”
...or apparently, a large ship.
It should also be mentioned here that the amount of traffic in this area (the approaches to the entrance of Tokyo Wan) is incredible. It’s a madhouse of merchants of all sizes maneuvering to enter the mandatory Traffic Separation Schemes, fishing boats, inter-island ferries, and outbound shipping trying to get clear. I can easily say it was the stressful transit I made in my naval career, no matter how many times I did it, and even more so in darkness.
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