USS John S. McCain May Have Suffered Steering Failure

Maritime Executive ^ | 8/22/2017 | editor

[Presbyterian Reporter]

The USS John S. McCain suffered a steering failure as she was beginning her approach into the Strait of Malacca, a U.S. Navy official has told news agency CNN. The destroyer collided with a tanker on Monday.

“The official said it was unclear why the crew couldn't utilize the ship's backup steering systems to maintain control,” reports CNN. Steering control was apparently regained after the collision.

The destroyer arrived at Changi Naval Base o Monday afternoon with significant hull damage. The damage resulted in flooding to nearby compartments, including crew berthing, machinery and communications rooms. Divers have started searching the flooded areas of destroyer for 10 sailors reported missing after a collision.

Admiral John Richardson, U.S. Navy Chief of Naval Operations, has called for a global operational pause as well as an operational review and a comprehensive review. The comprehensive review will “examine the process by which we train and certify our forces that are foward-deployed in Japan” including both tactical and navigational proficiency, and it will be in addition to the investigations that look into the details of the collisions.

The review will be headed by Admiral Philip Davidson, and Richardson says its scope will not only span the Navy, but look outside the military as well.

Some defense analysts have warned that longer deployments and less time and money for maintenance and training are a concern for the Navy. The crew of the USS John S. McCain had recently completed over 350 maintenance and repair jobs while at sea, at least 100 of which would usually be conducted at a ship yard. USS John S. McCain's Repair Division conducts an average of 180 hours of preventative maintenance a week.

There have been four incidents involving U.S. Navy vessels in the region this year: the USS Fitzgerald collided with a container ship off the coast of Japan in June, killing seven sailors, USS Lake Champlain hit a South Korean fishing boat in May and the USS Antietam ran aground off the coast of Japan in January.

An opinion piece in China Daily stated that the U.S. Navy was becoming "a hazard in Asian waters” and “a growing risk to commercial shipping."

[GOPJ]

One weird ‘accident’ can happen ... what we have now is a pattern.

Something’s going on... have the Chinese have figured out a way to re-figure navigational guidelines broadcast by the United States to establish latitude and longitude lines?

If that’s the case a United States nuke designed to hit Pyongyang could be redirected to Seoul... or ships could be directed into each other...

This is serious stuff.

[mewzilla]

Remains of Navy sailors found on USS John S. McCain

Prayers for our sailors and their loved ones.

[Huskerfan44]

Back door??? Built during the (_)o(_)bama administration!

[Presbyterian Reporter]

“””A lot of those merchant ships don’t even man their pilothouse — there is literally nobody at the wheel or even looking for other ships”””

---

I doubt the accuracy of this statement.

[dila813]

The admiral also said there were no signs of failure in the ship’s steering system or of a cyberattack, two possibilities that have been mentioned in news reports. But he noted that the investigation was in its earliest stages, saying, “We are not taking any consideration off ...

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/22/world/asia/us-navy-ship-collision-uss-mccain-search-sailors.html

[Bull Snipe]

If a merchant ship had suffered the damage that either the Fitzgerald or the McCain suffered they would have gone to the bottom, their crews are not trained in damage control.
They stand their 3 watches, work an 8 hour shift and that is it. Each man on the crew has his own stateroom.On a naval vessel you work your 8 hour day, stand 3 watches, do GQ drills, HDQs at night, an unrep during the day. He sleeps in a compartment with 35 other men. The merchie cook, does that, he cooks. A Navy cook, cooks, is number 2 hose man in repair one and 2JV phone talker during sea detail and unrep. A able bodied seaman with three years experience probably makes $75,000 a year.
a Navy seaman with 3 years experience makes $22,600.
Comparing life at sea on a commercial vessel and on a Naval is like comparing apples and oranges.

[Tenacious 1]

The jokes about a “Steering problem” in a ship named “McCain” write themselves.

[SandwicheGuy]

Knock the hell off with the damn jokes... US naval personnel died on this ship....take the politics jokes to another thread.

Here's an idea... Take your Holier than Thou self off this thread and go join the Snowflake thread. Nobody is making jokes except you, and you are the joke.

[golas1964]

Perhaps the vessel should have named the USS John McClane (he’d never steer you wrong)

[The_Media_never_lie]

The ship has variable pitch props, two shafts, and turbines. It ought to have a reasonable amount of maneuverability without any rudder input.

---

Maybe crew was inept at performing loss of rudder procedure.

Not to be cynical, but whatever happened, it will be blamed on the captain and XO, who will be relieved of command, and not on the admirals and political leaders who have been more concerned with gender and transgender equity than operational efficiency.

[mad_as_he$$]

Could the rudder have been locked to one side?

[txrefugee]

And no one on deck could see the freighter? A CYA attempt yet again, as another crew joins the US Naval Crash of the Month Club.

[TXnMA]

"If the McCain was working on its steering -- may have even been dead in the water or moving at greatly reduced speed (and hence had limited maneuverability), and that other ship simply wasn't paying attention and rammed it..."

TheMcCain's damage has a very clear "low velocity impact" signature:

It looks very much as if McCain was dead stopped, and the tanker had so little forward velocity (and inertia) that it barely creased the McCain's hull plating with its vertical stem.

Basically, it looks like the Alnic just shoved McCain sideways until energy dissipated and everything came to a dead stop...

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hat tip to Presbyterian Reporter, who shared with me a link containing what could be an important datum:

http://maritimebulletin.net/2017/08/21/uss-john-s-mccain-vs-tanker-alnic-mc-same-scenario-as-with-uss-fitzgerald/

"Tanker Update: Tanker was carrying some 11,987 ton of fuel oil, hull not ruptured, no leak, propulsion said to be damaged."

~~~~~~~~~~~~

This is speculation, but could it be possible that the Alnic MC's "propulsion damage" is from when she went "ALL ASTERN FULL" in an attempt to stop before hitting the dead-in-the-water McCain -- (and almost succeeded in stopping...)?

That scenario fits the evidence from the McCain's damage better than any other that I have seen offered, so far...

[Presbyterian Reporter]

Thanks for the link-—Swift also said:

“At his news conference Tuesday, Admiral Swift discounted suggestions that the crew of the McCain had been overworked or underprepared.”

[moovova]

"Don't you want somebody to love blame Don't you need somebody to love blame Wouldn't you love somebody to love blame You better find somebody to love, love... blame, blame."

[Presbyterian Reporter]

“””but could it be possible that the Alnic MC’s “propulsion damage” is from when she went “ALL ASTERN FULL” in an attempt to stop before hitting the dead-in-the-water McCain — (and almost succeeded in stopping...)?

That scenario fits the evidence from the McCain’s damage better than any other that I have seen offered, so far...”””

---

Your scenario explains a lot.

The Navy is now changing their story about steering loss or cyberattacks. From today’s NYT:

“The admiral(Swift) said there were no signs of failure in the ship’s steering system or of a cyberattack, two possibilities that have been mentioned in news reports.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/22/world/asia/us-navy-ship-collision-uss-mccain-search-sailors.html

Maybe there was some other reason the McCain stopped or whatever.

[AndyJackson]

whatever happened, it will be blamed on the captain and XO, who will be relieved of command, and not on the admirals and political leaders who have been more concerned with gender and transgender equity than operational efficiency.

CO and XO are responsible for the training and qualification of the ships officers and men. The responsibility for poor seamanship rests on their shoulders and no one else's.

[floozy22]

Something stinks here, 4 mishaps in the area in a short amount of time... Either the fleet has become dangerously negligent in training and procedures - basic seamanship, or something intentional is happening.

" or something intentional is happening."

These instances at sea, along with several 2017 U.S. Marine and Army helicopter crashes (one in Australia), clearly indicate intent. And we should include the helicopter crash during the Charlottesville riot that killed two VA state troopers.

It all brings to mind this profoundly interesting wikipedia entry:

The Five Eyes, often abbreviated as FVEY, is an intelligence alliance comprising Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States. These countries, with a similar common law legal inheritance, are parties to the multilateral UKUSA Agreement, a treaty for joint cooperation in signals intelligence.

The origins of the FVEY can be traced back to the post-World War II period, when the Atlantic Charter was issued by the Allies to lay out their goals for a post-war world. During the course of the Cold War, the ECHELON surveillance system was initially developed by the FVEY to monitor the communications of the former Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc, although it is now used to monitor billions of private communications worldwide.

In the late 1990s, the existence of ECHELON was disclosed to the public, triggering a major debate in the European Parliament and, to a lesser extent, the United States Congress. As part of efforts in the ongoing War on Terror since 2001, the FVEY further expanded their surveillance capabilities, with much emphasis placed on monitoring the World Wide Web. The former NSA contractor Edward Snowden described the Five Eyes as a "supra-national intelligence organisation that doesn't answer to the known laws of its own countries".[6] Documents leaked by Snowden in 2013 revealed that the FVEY have been spying on one another's citizens and sharing the collected information with each other in order to circumvent restrictive domestic regulations on surveillance of citizens.

Despite the impact of Snowden's disclosures, some experts in the intelligence community believe that no amount of global concern or outrage will affect the Five Eyes relationship, which to this day remains one of the most comprehensive known espionage alliances in history.

This organization answers to no one, and no other entity. It is the global deep state. It controls worldwide intelligence and can do whatever it wants with impunity. That is the definition of absolute, unequivocal power. The only thing that could ever affect it's power is the existence of, and the efforts put forth by, the Trump Administration. So it sends messages, taking human life like it's swatting flies. Every intelligence body on this planet is corrupt. Many of them are at war with their own innocent citizens and soldiers.

The recent news story about U.S. diplomats in Cuba who were victims of sonic weapons should be noted. Sonic and ultrasonic weapons are the tools used by the U.S. and global deep states. They are virtually untraceable, unseen, and deadly. You could be a victim and never even know it. They are also the tools which are intended to enslave humanity, forever.

The dark forces have been at their evil deeds for decades. To say they have a foothold is laughable. They are in control, just about everywhere, but haven'the quite closed the deal, for some unknown reason. And boy does it piss them off! Trump, and maybe one or two others, stand in the way.

My sincere belief is that they will not prevail. There are powers on this earth and among men which are far greater than the powers exercised by the deep-staters. It confounds them, too, that there are things that exist beyond their comprehension. But sadly, the dark forces will continue to do harm, there will be many more innocent lives lost before they are finally put down. But we have to persevere and, as my mother would say, "get up each day and put one foot in front of the other." It's our only choice, because if we don't, we will cease to be.

[NonValueAdded]

Port engine flank speed, Starboard back full

[elpadre]

“..I doubt the accuracy of this statement...”

It is true. They at times put the merchant ship on auto-pilot at night. Living in coastal areas much of my life I have heard many stories of fishing boats being sunk, or other ships taking evasive actions because the cargo ships and tankers had no one at the helm during the early hours of the morning.