USS Cleveland Damaged After Crashing Into Tug During Launch, Navy Admits

The WarZone ^ | April 20, 2023 | Thomas Newdick

[Hootowl99]

Longish article. Several embedded videos. Good stuff. Excerpts below.

“The latest incident to befall the U.S. Navy’s troubled Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) was an embarrassingly public one, and one that left the brand-new USS Cleveland (LCS-31) damaged in the process of being launched, in front of around 3,000 people, including members of the media. The Navy has now issued a statement providing more details of the collision between the Cleveland — which is the last of the 16-strong Freedom class — and a tugboat involved during the warship’s recent christening.”

“No personnel injuries occurred, but there was limited damage” to the Cleveland, the Navy said, of the April 14 incident. “The damaged area is well above the waterline and no flooding occurred.”

“Using a side-launch process, the sled-mounted Cleveland is then pulled into the Menominee River by the tugboat William C. Gaynor, attached to it with a bow line. On entering the water, the LCS immediately strikes the tugboat, which was very obviously in much closer proximity to the warship than it should have been at this point. The warship engulfs the tug with an enormous wave and then lurches back and forth before coming to rest in the water.“

“The reason for the tug being too close to the Cleveland, according to the Navy, was a simple miscommunication. The Navy and shipbuilder are now investigating further to see how that happened.“

[ViLaLuz]

The Navy was focused on the more important things such as using the proper pronouns.