Damaged Destroyer USS Fitzgerald Moves to Dry Dock in Japan -PHOTOS

gCaptain ^ | July 12, 2017 | Mike Schuler

[artichokegrower]

The USS Fitzgerald has entered dry dock at a United States Navy base in Yokosuka, Japan to continue repairs and assess damage following its June 17 collision with a merchant vessel off the coast of Japan.

The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Fitzgerald (DDG 62) entered dry dock July 11 at the Fleet Activities (FLEACT) Yokosuka base.

[Lou L]

When did the Navy start reusing numbers ?

The USS Fitzgerald is a different class of ship, a guided-missile destroyer, DDG-62. The USS New Jersey was a battleship, BB-62.

There are only so many numbers available, without getting too much into 4 and 5-digit ones. Re-using more "famous" numbers isn't overly common, but it happens.

[Yo-Yo]

I dunno, but I think destroyers can only have a 2-digit number, so there are only so many.

Don't tell that to DDG-100 USS Kidd through DDG-112 USS Michael Murphy, and especially don't mention it to DDG-1000 USS Zumwalt.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_current_ships_of_the_United_States_Navy

[Lou L]

but I think destroyers can only have a 2-digit number,

The Spruance-class destroyers had 3-digits, starting with 963.

[davidb56]

The one elephant in the room everyone is ignoring and not talking about, including the USN, is the OOD......why. Was it a mooselimb? a female with hormone issues, or a guy taking a nap or watching porn on his i phone? The captain was asleep at 2:30 am in the smashed up quarters in the pic, so we know he’s innocent. Everything points to the OOD.

[Yo-Yo]

The one elephant in the room everyone is ignoring and not talking about, including the USN, is the OOD.

OOD, helmsman, lookouts, CIC, there's lots of blame to go around, and like most accidents there had to be an entire chain of failures for the collision to occur, not just one weak link.

[goodtomato]

Yes, that is some awesome work!

[meatloaf]

My guess is that Obama was down with that.

[BlueDragon]

Who needs underwater welders?

Nothing down there a bit of Splash Zone and plywood (two layers, one inside, one outside) couldn't have fixed. ;^')

As a helpful hint -- cover both sides of outside, of the outside ply, and at least the side that goes against the inside hull of the inside sheet entirely with the compound --through bolt using marine stainless bolts and quality fender washers, make sure to cover the end grain of the ply, smoothing & tapering the splashzone compound onto the steel around all edges, and it could last for years (if it had to)...seriesly... In emergency situations it's faster than waiting around for underwater welders to show up. Just saying.

[TWhiteBear]

The legend lives on, from the Pentagon on down
of the big fake that they called Obama.
The fake, it is said, never ‘fessed up his dead,
when the votes of November turned gloomy.
TWB

[Snickering Hound]

While you have all that beach time, read some Captain John Trimmer.

[llevrok]

I wonder if that is from the “bulbous bow” of the container ship?

[Lou L]

The one elephant in the room everyone is ignoring and not talking about, including the USN, is the OOD......why.

Yes, the OOD was responsible for "driving the ship" at the time of the accident, and I'd eventually be interested in knowing a little bit about their background, strictly from a curiosity standpoint.

While the CO was apparently asleep at the time of the accident, the CO is ultimately responsible for signing off on the OOD's qualifications; i.e., showing his confidence in that officer's ability to drive the ship. The demographic background of that officer shouldn't have factored into the accident, only their qualification and skill in handling the ship.

For the time being, I understand why the Navy would keep that officer's identity protected. Revealing their name would only create a highly-public pre-trial, with all sorts of speculation if the officer was anything other than a white male. If the final report preserves anonymity of that officer, I would find it very disturbing, even to the point of calling it a cover-up. We shall see.

[chief lee runamok]

Probably a rude awakening for the starboard watch.

[Norseman]

My guess as to what happened is that there were initially two tankers in the picture (fact) and that the other tanker (the Wan Hai, I believe) was the perceived threat to the Fitzgerald. In avoiding the Wan Hai, the crew of the Fitzgerald set a course across the bow of the second tanker, the Crystal, which went undetected by the bridge until the collision, or was detected so close to the time of the collision that they couldn’t take action to avoid it.

It’s also possible that someone on board relayed the existence of the Crystal and the approaching threat but their message was interpreted as referring to the Wan Hai, which the Fitzgerald was already avoiding. This is speculation, of course, but the potential role of the Wan Hai has gotten little notice and is, I think, worth considering.

Something similar happened to the Porter years ago. It was in the process of avoiding one tanker when it was surprised by the existence of a second one, and collided with it.

[TalonDJ]

“Probably a rude awakening for the starboard watch.”

They were probably playing hopscotch.

[Cold Heart]

Yup.

I was invited to join a navy dive team when I was in the reserves. I felt I already had too much time away from family going to sea, so declined.

[Cold Heart]

This is why it is important we have our own US Flag merchant ships and yards.

[Lou L]

My guess as to what happened is that there were initially two tankers in the picture (fact) and that the other tanker (the Wan Hai, I believe) was the perceived threat to the Fitzgerald.

I had not heard of other ships in the vicinity, but a third ship in the mix would definitely complicate matters. It wouldn't remove blame, but would at least explain that the situation was more complex than many know.

Still, if the tactical situation was that tenuous, the OOD should've had strict standing orders from the Captain to wake him immediately, and should have done so. Ship collisions in the open sea don't happen quickly; the situations that lead to them evolve over time, even dozens of minutes. The OOD (and bridge and CIC crews) should've recognized the potential for a dangerous encounter, and the OOD should've taken the ship out of harm's way.

What I want to know is, what was the dialog on the bridge between the OOD (possibly JOOD), quartermaster of the watch and the lookouts? Also, what was CIC telling the bridge? Did anyone identify a close-in CPA? Did anyone on the Fitzgerald try to contact the Crystal via bridge-to-bridge comms? Signal lights?

[TXnMA]

"I wonder if that is from the “bulbous bow” of the container ship?"

~~~~~~~

Almost certainly so. And, as I expected, the sub-surface damage is forward of the upper hull / superstructure damage --- as predicted by this collision positioning study:

rlmorel and I did matching studies -- and (IIUC) we reached, essentially, the same conclusions:

1. No damage on the Fitzgerald indicates any forward displacement

2. The Fitzgerald exhibits massive "downward-smashing" displacement

3. The ACXCrystal shows no evidence of any aftward damage / displacement.

4. The USS Fitzgerald was traveling faster than the ACX Crystal while the two vessels were in contact, and may have been accelerating in an attempted emergency turn to port.

5. Fitzgerald "rode up on" the Crystal's bow protrusion, damaging Fitz's lower hull and heeling the Fitzgerald over to port.

6. The "heel-over" raised the Fitzgerald's starboard deck and caused the "downward-smashing" damage (clearly visible above) to be inflicted by the Crystal's upper bow.

7. Had the ACX Crystal had a bow lacking the forward underwater protrusion, the damage to the Fitzgerald would probably have been comparatively far less severe.

~~~~~~~~~~

I fully expect that, if rlmorel has any disagreement with the above analysis, he will "set me straight"... '-)

[LonePalm]

Each ship type has it's own list of hull numbers.

For example: USS Harry W. Hill (DD-985), USS Fitzgerald (DDG-62), USS Los Angeles (SSN-688), USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76), USS North Carolina (BB-55).

"Ceterum censeo Islam esse delendam."

Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)