Japanese destroyer collides with South Korean ship

A Japanese navy destroyer and a South Korean container ship collided Tuesday off southern Japan, sparking fires on both ships and injuring three crew members, officials said.

The ships collided under a bridge linking the Japanese main islands of Kyushu and Honshu in the narrow Kanmon Strait, Japan Coast Guard spokesman Seishi Izumi said.

One crew member on the destroyer JS Kurama was slightly injured with scratches and bruises while two others were suffering from smoke inhalation, a Defense Ministry spokesman said on condition of anonymity, citing policy.

None of the South Korean ship's 16 crew members — 12 from South Korea and four from Myanmar — was injured, Izumi said.

The fire on the 7,400-ton container ship Carina Star was extinguished shortly after the collision. The blaze on the destroyer was mostly under control late Tuesday but its temperature was still extremely high, the defense official said.

Officials are investigating the case as possible professional negligence and have begun questioning crew members on both ships, Izumi said.

The defense official said the Japanese ship's bow was badly burned and mangled, but the vessel was still capable of traveling on its own. The container ship's hull was grazed near its bow.

Izumi said the fire apparently broke out as a result of the impact of the collision, with paint inside a storage room on the destroyer catching fire.

The accident occurred under the Kanmon Bridge connecting Kyushu and the western end of Honshu — the narrowest part of the strait — about 530 miles (850 kilometers) southwest of Tokyo, Izumi said.

All sea traffic in the strait was suspended for about four hours after the accident.

The Kurama, carrying 360 sailors, was on its way to its home port of Sasebo on Kyushu after serving as the flagship for the country's triennial fleet review Sunday at the port of Yokosuka. The container ship had left the South Korean port of Busan and was headed to Osaka in western Japan.

Last year, a collision between a destroyer and a tuna trawler off the coast of Chiba, near Tokyo, left two fishermen dead. That accident triggered an uproar in Japan, where many people harbor pacifist sentiments and remain sensitive to anything related to the military.

Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa quickly held a news conference to express regret.

"We deeply apologize to the people for causing concerns," he said. "We will quickly find out what caused the accident."

I went back and checked the Sailing Directions and sailing against an adverse current is a recommendation, not a regulation so there will be two-way traffic. I'm willing to bet a lot of the traffic going against the current is smaller.

A vessel should, if possible, avoid transiting the strait or entering or departing harbors on either side of the strait with a following tidal current, but if this is unavoidable vessels should not do so when the tidal current is running at full strength.

It is not safe for large vessels to transit the strait with any appreciable following current, or at SW when numerous local craft encumber the fairways.

Large vessels with sufficient power should pass through Hayatomo Seto with an adverse current of more than 2 knots and less than 4 knots; about 3.5 knots is reported to be advantageous, as by this time the possibility of meeting any ocean-going vessels proceeding in the opposite direction will be at a minimum. When a current exceeding 4 knots is running, the strait should not be attempted as strong eddies may cause a dangerous shear.

Sailing Direction Pub 159 Japan Vol II

Now these are the laws of the Navy
Unwritten and varied they be
And he that is wise will observe them
Going down in his ship to the sea
As nought may outrun the destroyer
Even so with the law and its grip
For the strength of the ship is the Service
And the strength of the Service, the ship

Take heed what you say of your rulers
Be your words spoken softly or plain
Lest a bird of the air tell the matter
And so ye shall hear it again

If ye labour from morn until even
And meet with reproof for your toil
It is well, that the gun may be humbled
The compressor must check the recoil

On the strength of one link in the cable
Dependeth the might of the chain
Who knows when thou may be tested?
So live that thou bearest the strain

When the ship that is tired returneth
With the signs of the sea showing plain
Men place her in dock for a season
And her speed she reneweth again
So shalt thou, lest, perchance thou grow weary
In the uttermost parts of the sea
Pray for leave for the good of the Service
As much and as oft as may be

Count not on certain promotion
But rather to gain it aspire
Though the sight line shall end on the target
There cometh perchance a misfire

Can'st follow the track of the dolphin
Or tell where the sea swallows roam?
Where leviathan taketh his pastime?
What ocean he calleth his home?
Even so with the words of thy rulers
And the orders those words shall convey
Every law is as nought beside this one -
THOU SHALT NOT CRITICISE, BUT OBEY!

Saith the wise, "How can I know their purpose?"
Then acts without wherefore or why
Stays the fool but one moment to question
And the chance of his life passes by

If ye win through an African Jungle
Unmentioned at home in the press
Heed it not: no man seeth the piston
But it driveth the ship none the less

Do they growl? It is well: be thou silent
So that work goeth forward amain
Lo, the gun throws her shot to a hair's breadth
And shouteth, yet none shall complain

Do they growl and the work be retarded?
It is ill, speak, whatever their rank
The half loaded gun also shouteth
But can she pierce armour with blank?

Doeth paintwork make war with the funnels?
Do the decks to the cannon complain?
Nay, they know that some soap or a scraper
Unites them as brothers again
So, ye being Heads of Departments
Do your growl with a smile on your lip
Lest ye strive and in anger be parted
And lessen the might of the ship

Dost deem that thy vessel needs gilding
And the dockyard forbear to supply?
Place thy hand in thy pocket and gild her
There be those who have risen thereby

Dost think in a moment of danger
Tis well with thy seniors to fight?
They prosper who burn in the morning
The letters they wrote overnight

For some there be, shelved and forgotten
With nothing to thank for their fate
Save that (on a half sheet of foolscap)
Which a fool "had the honour to state."

If the fairway be crowded, with shipping
Beating homeward the harbour to win
It is meet that, lest any should suffer
The steamers pass cautiously in

So thou, when thou nearest promotion
And the peak that is gilded is nigh
Give heed to thy words and thine actions
Lest others be wearied thereby
It is ill for the winners to worry
Take thy fate as it comes with a smile
And when you are safe in the harbour
They will envy, but may not revile

Uncharted the rocks that surround thee
Take heed the channels thou learn
Lest thy name serve to buoy for another
That shoal, the Court-Martial Return
Though armour the belt that protects her
The ship bears the scar on her side
It is well if the court shall acquit thee
It were best hadst thou never been tried

Now these are the laws of the Navy
Unwritten and varied they be
And he that is wise will observe them
Going down in his ship to the sea
As the wave rises to the hawse pipe
Washes aft, and is lost in the wake
So shall ye drop astern, all unheeded
Such time as the law ye forsake

Take heed in your manner of speaking
That the language ye use may be sound
In the list of the words of your choosing
"Impossible" may not be found

Now these are the Laws of the Navy
And many and mighty are they
But the hull and the deck and the keel
And the truck of the law is - OBEY.

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