Hardly a stealth profile in normal sea conditions.
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Posted on 06/17/2017 3:16:48 AM PDT by topher
tory Number: NNS170616-20Release Date: 6/16/2017 4:57:00 PM
From U.S. 7th Fleet Public Affairs
PHILIPPINE SEA (NNS) -- USS Fitzgerald (DDG 62) was involved in a collision with a merchant vessel at approximately 2:30 a.m. local time, June 17, while operating about 56 nautical miles southwest of Yokosuka, Japan.
As of this time, there have been two patients requiring medical evacuation. One was Cmdr. Bryce Benson, Fitzgerald's commanding officer, who was transferred to U.S. Naval Hospital Yokosuka and is reportedly in stable condition. A second MEDEVAC is in progress. Other injured are being assessed. There are seven Sailors unaccounted for; the ship and the Japanese Coast Guard continues to search for them.
Although Fitzgerald is under her own power, USS Dewey (DDG 105) got underway this morning as well as several U.S. Navy aircraft, and will join Japanese Coast Guard and Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force helicopters, ships and aircraft to render whatever assistance may be required.
"U.S. and Japanese support from the Navy, Maritime Self Defense Force and Coast Guard are in the area to ensure that the Sailors on USS Fitzgerald have the resources they need to stabilize their ship. As more information is learned, we will be sure to share to it with the Fitzgerald families and when appropriate the public. Thank you for your well wishes and messages of concern. All of our thoughts and prayers are with the Fitzgerald crew and their families," said Adm. John Richardson, Chief of Naval Operations.
"Right now we are focused on two things: the safety of the ship and the well-being of the Sailors," said Adm. Scott Swift, commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet. "We thank our Japanese partners for their assistance."
For more information, visit www.navy.mil, www.facebook.com/usnavy, or www.twitter.com/usnavy.
For more news from U.S. Pacific Fleet, visit www.cpf.navy.mil.
If the Navy ship had invisibility it had jolly well be watching out, being in a traffic zone too. Somebody slept at the helm?
That could very well be where the missing sailors are...
No sabotage,too many people to stop it. If a helmsmen wanted to commit suicide by collision it would be pretty obvious.
Seems intentional by container ship. Were they Muslim? Did they think our ship was from a different nation? Were those on the cargo ship drunk?
Was the container ship containing something illegal, like human slaves?
Don't know what happened here, but it sounds like the captain may have been on the bridge wing where the collision occurred.
After that idiotic incident with the Iranians and the riverine boats a while back I suspect the state of the Navy training and morale is exceedingly poor.
Likely the container ship was in full reverse, else given its speed (17-25kts) and mass would have gone right over the Navy boat, like a speed bump.
After 8 years of Obama, our military has far too many anti American snowflakes there for the benefits and lacking patriotism. Sad!
As I understand it, the merchant ship T-boned the Destroyer. How in the WORLD?!!!
“It will be scrutinized to death ad nauseum.”
That’s a lot of scrutiny. First, until we die, and then until we’re nauseous.
Every officer and NCO will be interviewed. Most of the enlisted will be also. A million photographs will be taken before reconstruction starts. Diagrams and animations will be created. This one accident will be a cottage industry. This one incident will generate thousands of man hours for contractors, it is a boondoggle bonanza.
You can't be serious. If one even had the intention of engineering such an event, how would you orchestrate having the U.S. ship plow into the bow of a cargo ship in the middle of a shipping lane?
The container ship is 29,000 tons, kinda small for that category.
Regardless of which ship had the right-of-way both, and esp the smaller more maneuverable ship, have an obligation to avoid a collision.
IMO the Fitzgerald is at fault.
Hope the captain had a good major in college, he’ll need it.
Purposeful on the part of container ship, maybe? Terrorism to some extent?
Naw. I misread. Thought container ship plowed into side of USS Fitzgerald.
Getting struck at the middle of the ship by a much larger vessel certainly shows the basic physics at work. It clearly was not a glancing blow so the info on collision avoidance and maneuvering is going to be key to the investigation. The damage also appears to be at a seam line between sections as that is where the waterline breach is evident in one photo so design and fabrication are going to be called into question.
There’s no way the captain and the OOD have any career left. However, if the USS Cole could be re-built after that terrorist attack, it seems possible the Fitz could yet continue as a ship of the line.
Thanks for the article with the great photos!
I’ll bet his stateroom is right there at the impact point. There are four staterooms on the main deck, 2 on the starboard below the navigation bridge. He was probably asleep when the ships collided.
Not having been on an Arleigh Burke class, I’m guessing that is Officer Country.
The others could have been in the damaged and flooded accommodation spaces.
Hardly a stealth profile in normal sea conditions.
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Was the destroyer under way at the time of the collision, anyone know?
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