Posted on 06/18/2017 7:22:25 AM PDT by RoosterRedux
We received an email from a Navy Mother that raises serious questions. We will redact her name, while the rumors (and that’s how they must be categorized for now) reported by her son aboard the Fitzgerald are checked out. Here is what she wrote to us:
*snip*My son is assigned to the USS Fitzgerald. I am unable to share his rate with you.
The information is short and not so sweet. The implications are disturbing.
The ship is registered in the Philippines. We do not know who the owner is. The container ship neither had its running lights or transponder on. That is an action taken willfully. Furthermore, for the container ship to strike with such accuracy is troublesome. Given what some have done with cars in Europe, what a feather in the cap it would be to sink a U.S. Navy warship. Think on that.
My son missed being washed out to sea by the blink of an eye. He was on his way to one of the berthing areas that was rammed.
If there is any substance to this – that the ACX Crystal disabled protective systems and rammed the Fitzgerald at high speed aimed at crtical facilities (evident from the damage) –
PHOTOS
…we have to consider the possibility of an asymmetric warfare attack designed to disable missile defense of a carrier strike group, as North Korea demonstrates the ability to make exactly such attacks on a multibillion dollar warship carrying thousands of sailors.
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
Very similar account to what was posted last night:
Unconfirmed, from Reddit:
“I actually just got word from another shipmate that was on board the USS Fitzgerald as well. He said that the cargo ship did not appear on the radar and the lights were dim. They tried to turn, but by then it was too late. When they hit, the berthing rooms started to flood. They sealed off all the berthing rooms, essentially trapping the sailors because they thought no one was in any of the rooms to avoid sinking the ship.”
First reports are always wrong.
The military doesn’t divulge information easily, especially when it might identify security weaknesses.
The media probably doesn’t know any more about merchant ships than they do about naval matters.
I can’t figure out that US Navy radar technology wouldn’t have been tracking this massive container ship and sounded some alarm.
My first thoughts were that this was no "accident".
Nevertheless, poor seamanship at the helm. There are redundant systems on the bridge to warn of an imminent collision or a horizontal threat.
Upon hearing about planes hitting the World Trade Center on 9/11, I recall saying it had to be purposeful since it was a clear day and the WTC was the biggest thing for 1000 miles. It just couldn’t be a mistake.
I thought the same thing here. How do two ships collide in open water except on purpose?
I’ll go with go with Capt. Johnny Walker was at the ship’s helm.
I wondered the same. It’s a destroyer, they should be able to see a canoe a mile out. How do you run into a cargo ship?
OR
Major FUBAR?
Agree about the poor seamanship. I don’t think a freaking container ship should be able to sneak up and ram a US warship.
WTF was in charge of oncoming boats???
That person needs to get hanged!
9/11 would have been reported as an acccident if only one plane had been involved.
Whom we’ve NOTHING about.
Wow.
Not dismissing the possibility of an intentional attack, but if the merchant ship was doing something illegal, say receiving, offloading, dumping an illicit cargo, wouldn’t that explain the transponder being off? And how long was the transponder off? The entire voyage, certain part, during the squirrelly turns the vessel made?
Why no info on who/what owns/operates the merchant ship..?
And why couldn’t/didn’t the Fitz get out of the way?
‘This was no “accident”.
I hear ya but for a huge, lumbering cargo ship to target and hit another ship in open waters seems almost impossible.
It would seem to me that had the ACX Crystal wanted to deliberately ram the Fitzgerald, the container ship would have done much more damage than it actually did.
I’ll go with Seaman Muhammed at the wheel.
Well, until there are facts to go by.
“He said that the cargo ship did not appear on the radar ...”
Say what?
It would have painted a smear on the screen so big that it would be noticeable across the compartment ... unless someone has found a way to create s stealth container ship which is invisible to radar even when fully laden.
Bogus report.
I’m going with Captain Morgan
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