US Navy ship collides with oil tanker in Gulf

NBC News ^ | August 12, 2012

[JerseyanExile]

An oil tanker collided with a U.S. Navy destroyer near the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday but no one was hurt and shipping traffic in the waterway, through which 40 percent of the world's seaborne oil exports pass, was not affected, officials said.

"Both vessels are okay and the Strait of Hormuz is not closed, and business is as usual there," an Oman coast guard official told Reuters, declining to be named under briefing rules.

The collision nevertheless left a gaping hole in the starboard side of USS Porter, a guided-missile destroyer suffered, but no one was injured on either vessel, the U.S. Navy said in a statement. The collision with the Panamanian-flagged bulk oil tanker M/V Otowasan occurred at approximately 1 a.m. local time.

The cause of the incident is under investigation, the Navy said, adding that there were no reports of spills or leakages from either the USS Porter or the Otowasan.

[norwaypinesavage]

I should know better than to make (not so) educated guesses about ships here.

[Delhi Rebels]

Not much damage considering she was hit by a 160,000 GRT oil tanker. I’m sure more details will be forthcoming.

[Delhi Rebels]

In a bit of irony the Kennedy/Belknap collision occurred on the 12th anniversary of JFK’s assassination.

[BluH2o]

The US destroyer was entering thru the Straits of Hormuz the tanker was exiting. Both ships, as with most traffic patterns, would stay to the right ... in this instance the right of the navigable designated channel. The fact the destroyer was hit on the starboard side forward would indicate the destroyer veered to port, across the bow of the tanker, and was hit. This is negligence on the part of the senior watch officer on deck of the destroyer at the time ... this officer and all senior officers, most certainly the Captain & XO will be relieved of duty.

[JerseyanExile]

Here are a few new pics. The damage seems pretty bad. It also looks like they have pumps running (you can see the output of a hose), so there might be additional damage below the waterline.

[Oztrich Boy]

If you are driving a destroyer and your carrier turns to start taking incoming planes, don't plan to cross the carrier's bow. Besides, carriers can easily win a race with shorter vessels if they hit the gas.

Apparently the captain overruled the staff and decided to cut across the carrier’s bow instead of throttling back and passing behind. Oops.

Not necessarily. A very similar situation arose on 10 February 1964, when the Australian destroyer HMAS Voyager was acting as plane guard to the carrier HMAS Melbourne during night flying ops off Jervis Bay.

Both ships reversed course, but the lighter destroyer naturally did it quicker, placing it off the port bow of the carrier. The carrier then turned into the wind, putting the destroyer off the starboard bow. This position shift was not realized on the destroyer, so when it was ordered to take station astern, a port turn and circle was planned.

For some reason, the destroyer first made a slight turn to starboard, then port. Seeing that, the carrier assumed a fishtailing drop back was being executed, and took no immediate action.
By the time the actual sitaution became apparent, too late.

[Vaquero]

were the officers on the bridge practicing zer0’s ‘New Proud Gay Navy’ ‘maneuvers’?

[US_MilitaryRules]

You are correct. It took reading 55 posts for someone to post the person on the right has the right of way.

[bonfire]

Oddly enough, a destroyer just deployed last month on a lone mission to fight piracy. Not attached to a carrier. Was “news” to me as I always thought they went out w/a carrier.

[Gaffer]

Yeah...Obama figures them Somali Pirates gots missiles...ha ha....