Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

USS Fitzgerald collision wasn't reported for nearly an hour, Japan says
CBS News ^ | June 19, 2017

Posted on 06/19/2017 10:20:48 AM PDT by Kaslin

Last Updated Jun 19, 2017 11:37 AM EDT

TOKYO -- Japan's coast guard is investigating why it took nearly an hour for a deadly collision between a U.S. Navy destroyer and a container ship to be reported.

A coast guard official said Monday they are trying to find out what the crew of the Philippine-flagged ACX Crystal was doing before reporting the collision off Japan's coast to authorities 50 minutes later.

The ACX Crystal collided with the USS Fitzgerald off Japan's coast, killing seven of the destroyer's crew of nearly 300. The ships collided early Saturday morning, when the Navy said most of the 300 sailors on board would have been sleeping. Authorities have declined to speculate on a cause while the crash remains under investigation.

A track of the much-larger container ship's route by MarineTraffic, a vessel-tracking service, shows it made a sudden turn as if trying to avoid something at about 1:30 a.m., before continuing eastward. It then made a U-turn and returned around 2:30 a.m. to the area near the collision.

The impact crushed the starboard side of the Fitzgerald. The ship was listing as it sailed into its home port in Yokosuka, Japan, Saturday, CBS News correspondent Ben Tracy reports. The commander of the U.S. 7th Fleet said the sailors' actions kept the ship from sinking.

"This was not a small collision," Vice Adm. Joseph Aucoin said. "It was right near the pilot's house, and there is a big puncture."

(Excerpt) Read more at cbsnews.com ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Front Page News; Japan
KEYWORDS: maritime; usnavy; ussfitzgerald
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 61-8081-100101-120 ... 201-215 next last
To: Kaslin

“It was a sudden U-turn. Big difference.”

ACX Crystal can’t make a sudden U-turn, imo.

Too big and going too fast.

I think the U-turn was after the collision.


81 posted on 06/19/2017 11:43:57 AM PDT by ltc8k6
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 62 | View Replies]

To: outpostinmass2

“This could be like 2012 USS Porter collision. Total incompetence.”

Staggering. You always come right.


82 posted on 06/19/2017 11:44:32 AM PDT by dsc
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 63 | View Replies]

To: UriÂ’el-2012

Well, we don’t agree.

Now what?


83 posted on 06/19/2017 11:45:11 AM PDT by ltc8k6
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 76 | View Replies]

To: Mariner

You weren’t there.

I have seen people killed by incompetence in the military.

I have investigated how military equipment was damaged.

I learned to get all the facts.

This could very well have been incompetence.

But, you don’t have all the facts and you are not investigating.

I won’t disparage our Sailors until all the facts are known.


84 posted on 06/19/2017 11:46:48 AM PDT by blueunicorn6 ("A crack shot and a good dancer")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 69 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

100 miles or so off the SE coast of Japan is most certainly open seas.

“crowded” in maritime terms means there’s a ship every few miles...or 20.


85 posted on 06/19/2017 11:47:27 AM PDT by Mariner (War Criminal #18)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 80 | View Replies]

To: GOPJ; Travis McGee

“Wasn’t the captain injured in his cabin?”

Travis, if this is true, then the Fitz crew (apparently) failed to follow protocol on a number of different levels.

Otherwise, what reasonable explanation has the Capt in his cabin at the time of impact (unless he went back to retrieve something...)?


86 posted on 06/19/2017 11:48:31 AM PDT by jonno (Having an opinion is not the same as having the answer...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 77 | View Replies]

To: blueunicorn6

Amen to that.


87 posted on 06/19/2017 11:48:35 AM PDT by trisham (Zen is not easy. It takes effort to attain nothingness. And then what do you have? Bupkis.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 84 | View Replies]

To: blueunicorn6

And how much time at sea do you have?


88 posted on 06/19/2017 11:49:00 AM PDT by Mariner (War Criminal #18)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 84 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin; All

Strange, yes. But lets open up our considerations. There are BIG things going on in the world.

Russia would like *things* to happen. And other countries.
AND China is doing big big uncontained things, that we cant control, easily, trying to get control of the ?China Sea.

Previous threads have thrown out these things:
- As I recall, saying China could block the radar.
- Russia is working on a radar blocker. ?wanting to test it ?

Clearly, if the radar was not functioning, could cause this.

Was container ship jazzing around afterwards to check out what they had done? And then collect their Russian $$ -


89 posted on 06/19/2017 11:49:51 AM PDT by PraiseTheLord
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 74 | View Replies]

To: Lou L

I guess the senior officer on watch that night will have some splainin to do.


90 posted on 06/19/2017 11:51:08 AM PDT by Uncle Sam 911
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 46 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin
Namesake: William Charles Fitzgerald

John Fitzgerald Kennedy

lt jg US Navy PT boat Captain,
adrift at night rammed by a Japanese tincan.
sailors lost at sea.


91 posted on 06/19/2017 11:52:11 AM PDT by Uri’el-2012 (Psalm 119:174 I long for Your salvation, YHvH, Your teaching is my delight.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 55 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

“It wasn’t in the open sea, the area was crowded”

There’s always a lot of traffic in that area.

Surely it wasn’t a rendezvous.


92 posted on 06/19/2017 11:52:29 AM PDT by dsc
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 80 | View Replies]

To: ltc8k6
All I am saying this is what was reported. Interesting read here

Collision At Sea – U.S.S. Fitzgerald Collides With Cargo Container Ship ACX Crystal Off Coast of Japan…

Many photos

93 posted on 06/19/2017 11:52:45 AM PDT by Kaslin (The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triump. Thomas Paine)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 81 | View Replies]

To: jonno
They have many sources of communication equipment, it's not 1912 where the Titanic RM is tapping out Morse code in a closet. In 1981 we missed ramming the USS Hull (DD 954) by mere feet while waiting for an escort into Pearl Harbor. In the early morning hours there are many ships awaiting escorts into busy ports - just going back and forth aimlessly- I still am left wondering what the lookouts were doing on the Fitzgerald, what the Quartermaster and Officer of the Deck on the bridge were doing.

I'm going to say we never find out - surprise

94 posted on 06/19/2017 11:53:51 AM PDT by atc23 (The Confederacy was the single greatest conservative resistance to federal authority ever)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 19 | View Replies]

To: Travis McGee

I would have hoped that after the attack on the USS Cole that awareness and security against any kind of ramming attacks would be drilled into every US Navy officer ad nauseum.

btw, it was asserted on another thread that the initial public timeline for the cargo ship’s maneuvers is messed up, and that those cargo ship turning maneuvers occurred AFTER the collision. I don’t know for sure if that’s the case, but it might have to be considered. In that case the two ships would have been on converging courses in the same general direction, and perhaps the USS Fitzgerald tried to pass in front of the cargo ship. Still doesn’t begin to explain how such a crazy collision could occur for a US Navy destroyer, but it might change the picture.


95 posted on 06/19/2017 11:53:56 AM PDT by Enchante (Searching throughout the country for one honest Democrat....)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 39 | View Replies]

To: Uncle Sam 911

“I guess the senior officer on watch that night will have some splainin to do.”

He/she and the Captain will have plenty of opportunity at their Courts Martial...perhaps along with others on watch that night.


96 posted on 06/19/2017 11:54:37 AM PDT by Mariner (War Criminal #18)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 90 | View Replies]

To: Mariner

And how much time do you have investigating military accidents?


97 posted on 06/19/2017 11:55:29 AM PDT by blueunicorn6 ("A crack shot and a good dancer")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 88 | View Replies]

To: Mariner
“Something stinks in japan” Yes, it’s the crew of the Fitzgerald. The most advanced ship in the world got hit by a lumbering container ship on the open seas.

Yep, no matter what or why, the Fitzgerald 0000 - 0400 bridge watch should FRY

98 posted on 06/19/2017 11:58:16 AM PDT by atc23 (The Confederacy was the single greatest conservative resistance to federal authority ever)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 61 | View Replies]

To: blueunicorn6
And how much time do you have investigating military accidents? Do you have actual sea time on warships? As a crewmember?
99 posted on 06/19/2017 12:02:55 PM PDT by atc23 (The Confederacy was the single greatest conservative resistance to federal authority ever)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 97 | View Replies]

To: blueunicorn6

I would take my 4 Westpacs as authoritative over somebody who investigates how the breech of a 155 exploded.

Or how it was possible a M1A1 ran over a Humvee.

The Fitz had propulsion after the collision, and most certainly before. It was hit at an oblique angle by a cargo vessel, at low speed, on the open seas.

There are no other relevant factors or conditions.


100 posted on 06/19/2017 12:05:34 PM PDT by Mariner (War Criminal #18)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 97 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 61-8081-100101-120 ... 201-215 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson