http://www.trbas.com/media/media/acrobat/2017-08/70316349680760-17151358.pdf
rlmorel, you'll see a (overhead view) collision diagram very similar to the ones we drew and posted, as well as a diagram of a "bulbous bow".
Also, there is a post-collision timeline that's quite informative.
Much of the really interesting stuff is redacted -- or replaced with photos of similar vessels...
Thanks, TXnMA...I am going to look at it tonight.
I am at work now, but couldn’t resist reading some of the report.
They were in modified Zebra, so not completely dogged down as they would be at General Quarters.
It is awful to read the accounts. As I have said in the past, I am an amateur naval historian, and reading this account is sadly, so similar to accounts of ships in wartime being torpedoed in the small hours of the morning while the crew sleeps. Crew being thrown from their racks, disoriented, darkness, rapidly rising water. Confusion.
Awful. Just awful.
I think this is very interesting--I just finished reading the preliminary report, by the way. I read in another news' release that the "senior enlisted sailor" was the Command Master Chief (CMC).
The CMC's job on the ship is to be the liaison between the Commanding Officer and the enlisted crew members. The CMC is usually charged with maintaining the crew's morale, while still supporting all of the military policies of that particular command. They may have auxiliary duties such as being in charge of retention (re-enlistments), training, and on surface ships, promotion of their Enlisted Surface Warfare programs.
The CMC (in my opinion), is more of an honorary position. He (or she) is the role model who can regale the junior sailors with wild tales of port visits in the Philippines, France and other exotic locations. The can take a young sailor, missing home for the first time, and provide encouragement. The CMC can assist or direct training when needed, or identify where the training focus should be. The CMC, if respected, can be a good source of crew morale and cohesiveness. The CMC is not usually an "operational" role, meaning "essential" for regular shipboard functions, however.
For this reason, I think it's highly unusual that the CMC was also relieved. Not that I recall ALL of these incidents, but I certainly can't recall the CMC being relieved in similar accidents. This suggests that there may have been a systemic issue onboard the ship affecting a large portion of the crew. Perhaps military misconduct, in many forms, led to poor watchstanding habits. Perhaps shoddy maintenance on damage control equipment led to inoperable, or maybe unavailable equipment. [The report alluded to a "seized" eductor--a pump for removing water.] Perhaps crew training was in question, although the ship itself was considered "certified" for Damage Control operations earlier this year.
When I was in the Navy, I was on a ship, assigned to a berthing area that was below the waterline, very similar to the Berthing 2 that was flooded on the Fitz. My rack was also on the starboard side of the ship, just the side most affected. I can't imagine being awakened like that, in the middle of the night, to a rushing sea that filled the compartment in less than a couple minutes.
The sailors in that berthing area stayed relatively cool and calm, and many of them acted heroically, helping other shipmates and then saving their ship. There was no sleep for them that night, and likely well into the next day. Breakfast was likely delayed, and very abbreviated, as the ship lost power, and was busy with damage control efforts.