[GATOR NAVY]

Smoke billows from the bow of Japanese navy destroyer JS Kurama after it collided with a commercial vessel in Kanmon strait, off southern Japan, Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2009. The fire on the 7,400-ton container ship was extinguished shortly after the collision. The navy destroyer was still on fire late Tuesday, though it was largely under control.(AP Photo/Kyodo News)

Fire and smoke spew from the bow of Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) destroyer Kurama as a ship crew tries to fight the fire in the Kammon Straits in Fukuoka prefecture, south of Japan October 27, 2009. The Japanese destroyer collided with a South Korean container ship on Tuesday night in the Kammon Straits, leaving a crew of JMSDF vessel Kurama injured, according to local media. (REUTERS/Mainichi Shimbun)

Water is hosed over the bow of Japanese navy destroyer JS Kurama on fire after it collided with a commercial vessel in Kanmon strait, off southern Japan, Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2009. The fire on the 7,400-ton container ship was extinguished shortly after the collision. The navy destroyer was still on fire late Tuesday, though it was largely under control.(AP Photo/Kyodo News)

[Larry Lucido]

Looks like the container ship destroyed the destroyer.

[freedumb2003]

How does that happen? It isn’t like they can’t see each other.

[RichInOC]

CAPTAIN: WHAT HAPPEN?
ADMIRAL: YOU NOT KNOW WHAT YOU DOING.

[GATOR NAVY]

I've never been through the Kanmon Straits but I'm familiar with the area. Tidal currents run up to 7-8 knots and there are some pretty sharp turns. There is a Traffic Separation Scheme as the route is pretty heavily traveled. It's the passage between the Korea Straits and the Inland Sea.

JDS Kurama

[TXnMA]

Destroyer captain to crew:

"Attention all hands: Anyone on board have katana and piece of rice paper?"

[Lockbar]

The Japanese crew were obviously on their lap tops and arguing over a new crew schedule.

[gaijin]

OH wow I’m so relieved it wasn’t us...! Sounds terrible to say, I know.

When we’re involved in something like this, we just get the blame so hard and fast....FINALLY it happens to someone else..!!!

Boy neither side is going 2b tickled about THIS, I’ll tell ya that..!

[Alter Kaker]

For all of you who are out of work, you might want to fine tune your resumes as I think there might be an immediate vacancy for Captain in the Japanese Navy.

[OldDeckHand]

I know two somebodies that will shortly be getting relieved. One’s a Korean, and the other is Japanese. The Japanese naval officer is lucky that it’s not 1909 - otherwise, he’d be losing his head along with his commission.

[GeronL]

Isn’t there some type of traffic control system?

[Rebelbase]

That will buff right out!

[Wiggins]

It was the Akakazi.

[naturalman1975]

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.