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 ...
From the internet: ACX Crystal is a 730-foot (220 m) container ship of 29,060 gross tons, 39,565 tonnes deadweight with a MAN B&W 8-cylinder diesel of 39,265 bhp giving a maximum speed of 25.3 knots and a service speed of 23.0 knots.
Fitzgerald is 505 ft, 8900 tons, 4 GE gas turbine engines 100,000 shaft horsepower driving two five-bladed reversible controllable-pitch propeller.
IOW the Fitzgerald is grossly more maneuverable. Upon recognition that the ACX Crystal was on the starboard quarter, closing on a coverging course with a collision in the future, the OOD on Fitzgerald should have altered course to port, perhaps as much as 90 degrees to clear the ACX crystal's track rapidly. Once control of the situation was established with large bearing rate and increasing range, slow until clear, then return to base course. Another alternative is to do a 360 to port passing behind the ACX Crystal, returning to base course and adjusting speed to remain on track.
Another course, if the situation was recognized well in advance is to increase speed, hold course and pass clear ahead of the ACX crystal.
What was the weather like?
Say, an ops team is unloading something important in open sea, at night, in bad seas.
You could have a nasty crash that could not be broadcast until the work was complete.
Just a thought.
What was the weather like?
Say, an ops team is unloading something important in open sea, at night, in bad seas.
You could have a nasty crash that could not be broadcast until the work was complete.
Just a thought.
“So tell us a plausible bullshit story on how this was not the fault of the Fitz crew. Any plausible bullshit story will do.”
Okay. The ships were supposed to rendezvous at sea to transfer elite troops for offloading in Mindanao. At the last second, a muzzie shot the captain, ordered up some turns, and rammed the Fitzgerald.
That bovine enough for you?
What’s more plausible is that IT IS an accident, and that the midwatch OOD decided not to follow Captain’s standing orders and wake the CO for contacts with CPAs of X nm of the ship.
Container ship should have cut her in half, and what likely happened is that the vessel flexed at the keel which opened a seam and ruptured through-hull fittings.
The collision happened on the right side of the ship. Open and shut that the collision was the fault of the DDG.
Captain got tossed across his stateroom by the impact of the collision, which hit directly on his stateroom, which is just below the bridge in most ships on the O2 or O3 level. Chances are he was unconscious, incapacitated, or they had real trouble getting into his stateroom. He medievac’d off. XO normally coordinates the DC response with the DCA.
This all screams NOT READY to any adversary that cares to pay attention.
No merchant is going to do that turn unless it comes to a dead stop.
Collision is the faint dot south of Oshima island in Tokyo Bay.
Crystal was stand on vessel.
Crazy how many protocols would have to be broken for this to happen. Most likely not, but could the ship have been rendered inoperable? It was not but a few months back that I was reading speculation about certain possible weaknesses here on FR. I pray for the sailors and for continued dominance.
It is evident from the damage to Crystal and to the Fitzgerald that Crystal was likely approaching from more than two points abaft the beam which means, under international law that Crystal was overtaking and was thus the give-way vessel.
Except unless the DDG was stationary, a few minutes before that, Crystal would have been in Fitzgerald’s starboard bow quarter and therefore stand on.
Brilliant post - thank you! This is indeed a great mystery.
Nope
See 165. If the new timeline (earlier collision) is correct, the OOD will hang.
Sadly, I concur.
“The caliber and intelligence of
newcomers to FR seems to
have slipped dramatically.
It must be as a result of Barry’s tenure.”
What does my 2006 FR join year and my Trump voting have to do with anything? We disagree on the subject. Let it go already.
Thanks for the correction... any idea what’s going to happen from here on out?
Not to mention a Great Lakes Freighter sitting on the bottom of Lake Superior.
You’re right - Benson might have run out of any luck he’s had... the Board will not be kind.
Must be Gorgon Lightfoot
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