Navy ship collisions thread from 2017

Pretty solid article by WSJ -

I know not everyone has subscription, so please forgive for lengthy post, here is transcript of article:

Deadly Collision Crushed Captain’s Cabin of USS Fitzgerald

YOKOSUKA, Japan—As most of its crew slept on Friday night, the USS Fitzgerald passed through one of Japan’s busiest shipping lanes just south of Tokyo, a watch crew assigned to guide its passage.

In a period of seconds, a 29,000 ton cargo ship loaded with containers plowed into its right side, crushing a large section of the destroyer’s main structure, including the captain’s cabin and sleeping quarters for 116 sailors below the waterline. Seawater flooded in through a large gash.

As the crew scrambled to save themselves and the ship, seven sailors didn’t make it out of the berthing area. Their bodies were recovered by divers a er the ship crawled to the port of Yokosuka.

“The water inflow was tremendous,” Vice Adm. Joseph Aucoin, head of the U.S. Seventh Fleet, said in a press briefing on Sunday. “There wasn’t a lot of time” for sailors to react.Badly injured, the captain, Bryce Benson, escaped from his cabin. He was airlifted to a nearby hospital where he was receiving emergency treatment on Sunday before being questioned.

“He’s lucky to be alive,” Vice Adm. Aucoin said.

The question of why a U.S. destroyer was rammed by a cargo ship over three times its size, one of the worst incidents in recent U.S. Navy history, has no immediate answers.

Some former military and commercial shipping captains speculate that the Fitzgerald may have failed to follow international regulations that require ships to give way to other vessels to their starboard, or right side.

“Unless the destroyer lost steering control, which is unlikely, it should have given right of way to the container ship,” said Yiannis Sgouras, a retired captain of tankers and cargo ships who worked in the world’s busiest trade route from Asia to Europe.

Others caution that there are potentially many other contributing factors to the collision. Tracking data sent by the cargo ship, the ACX Crystal, showed it reversed course around 2:05 a.m. local time, shortly before the time of the collision given by the U.S. Navy of approximately 2:20 a.m.

However, Nippon Yusen K.K., the Japanese shipping company that operates the 728- foot-long ACX Crystal, has stated that the collision occurred around 1:30 a.m. That discrepancy hasn’t been resolved.“She did not reverse the course before the collision. She did a er the collision,” a Nippon Yusen company spokesman said.

Both Japan and the U.S. are launching investigations, and each side declined to speculate about possible blame. The 20 Filipino crew members of the ACX Crystal, all of whom were unharmed, have been questioned, a spokesman for the Japan Coast Guard said.Around 400 vessels pass through the region where the collision took place, around 56 nautical miles southwest of Yokosuka, each day, according to the Japanese Coast Guard. O cial records show three accidents have been reported in the same area in the last five years.

Collisions at sea for the U.S. Navy are extremely uncommon, said Bryan McGrath, a former destroyer captain, who said they occur only once or twice a decade, if that. He said he couldn’t remember a recent collision that was this consequential.“There are 275 ships in the Navy and 100 are under way all over the world,” navigating “millions and millions of miles” every year, said Mr. McGrath, who retired in 2008 and is now a consultant. “This is very, very rare.”Yoji Koda, a retired vice admiral and former commander in chief of Japan’s navy, said that when U.S. Navy vessels are in the vicinity of Japan their alert level is the same as civilian vessels. He said one possibility was that either or both of the ships in the latest collision were using an autopilot system for guidance.

“Although they have watchmen, their responses tend to be delayed,” he said.

Vice Adm. Aucoin said all questions about the cause of the incident would require the results of the investigation, adding that the U.S. would work “hand-in-hand” with Japan.

Navy officials said they were working to inform family members of those killed, and had taken over 500 calls to a hotline for relatives to obtain information about the incident. One senior Navy o cial said all the crew of the ship were grieving.

Vice Adm. Aucoin said that despite the extensive damage to the Fitzgerald, a ship equipped with an advanced Aegis ballistic missile defense system, it would be restored to the U.S. 7th Fleet. That process could take up to a year, he said.

The repair process could cost around the same as the $250 million spent over 14 months on restoring the USS Cole, a similar ship to the Fitzgerald, which was heavily damaged by a terrorist bombing in Yemen in 2000.
 
I've written before about being on the USS Shreveport LPD-12 when it collided with its sister-ship, USS Nashville LPD-13 somewhere in the Bermuda Triangle. Not much damage, more of a sideswipe and a tremendous BANG in the wee hours...but vessels back then had pretty damn good radar, too.

I know speculation is pointless but at that time in the morning, not everybody is as sharp as they should be. I wouldn't be surprised if human error--not faulty technology--were to blame.

Radar and other sophisticated systems are only as good as the people operating or monitoring them.
 
Finally I am seeing more than just DailyMail pick up on this story.

It would appear that one of the 7 deceased, Fire Controlman 1st Class Gary Rehm Jr had ample time to escape and save himself, instead he continued to go back for his shipmates and may have saved up to 20 before he was ultimately trapped when fellow sailors were forced to contain the water before he was able to return for the final time.

Assuming these reports turn out to be accurate, my God, what a courageous young man. I would hope that ultimately the Navy finds a way to permanently honor him in some way.

Navy sailor sacrificed himself to save 20 lives after the USS Fitzgerald collision

One of the 7 sailors who died aboard the USS Fitzgerald saved more than a dozen of his fellow shipmates before he ultimately lost his own life, The Daily Beast reported.

The USS Fitzgerald collided with a Philippine-flagged merchant vessel about 56 miles off the coast of Japan on Saturday.

Seven sailors were later found dead in flooded compartments on the ship.

When the Fitzgerald collided with the merchant ship, 37-year-old Fire Controlman 1st Class Gary Leo Rehm Jr., "leapt into action," according to The Daily Beast.

The Fitzgerald was struck below the waterline, and Rehm Jr.'s family was told by the Navy that he went under and saved at least 20 sailors, according to WBNS-10TV in Columbus, Ohio.

But when he went back down to get the other six sailors, the ship began to take on too much water, and the hatch was closed, WBNS-10TV said.

"That was Gary to a T,” Rehm Jr.'s friend Christopher Garguilo, told NBC4i in Columbus, Ohio. “He never thought about himself.”
 
Interesting....

Investigators Believe USS Fitzgerald Crew Fought Flooding For An Hour Before Distress Call Reached Help

The crew of the guided-missile destroyer that was struck by a merchant ship on Friday off the coast of Japan fought to save the ship for an hour before the first calls went out for help, Japanese investigators now believe.

According to the current operational theory of Japanese investigators, the deadly collision between USS Fitzgerald (DDG-62) and the Philippine-flagged merchant ship ACX Crystal knocked out the destroyer’s communications for an hour, while the four-times-larger merchant ship was unaware of what it hit until it doubled back and found the damaged warship, two sources familiar with the ongoing Japanese investigation told USNI News on Wednesday.

Investigators now think Crystal was transiting to Tokyo on autopilot with an inattentive or asleep crew when the merchant vessel struck a glancing blow on the destroyer’s starboard side at about 1:30 AM local time on Friday. When the crew of Crystal realized they had hit something, the ship performed a U-turn in the shipping lane and sped back to the initial site of the collision at 18 knots, discovered Fitzgerald, and radioed a distress call to authorities at about 2:30 AM. U.S. Navy officials initially said the collision occurred at around the time of the distress call at 2:30 AM.
 
Based on this Washington Post article, the closing of the hatch is an investigation of of its own.

- were there still survivors when the hatch was closed?
- was a sailor making repeated trips to the survivors and back?
- who gave the order to close the hatch?
- was it necessary to save the ship?

Navy sailors made tough call to seal flooding ship compartments, unclear if survivors were inside

Sailors (current or former), what little I know of the Navy's damage control protocols or whatever, if Condition Zebra is set, doesn't every sailor on the ship have a requirement to dog the hatches? Can the OOD call for it or is that exclusive purview of the Capain or the XO if the Captain is disabled (as in this case)? How does that all work?
 
CNN update -

Navy is working the theory that 5 of the 7 may have become 'incapacitated' as soon as the collision happened.

It may never be known if anyone was still alive when the hatch was shut.

I thought these paragraphs were worth noting:

The official also noted the Navy is trying to corroborate accounts which suggest that the two sailors who weren’t almost instantly “incapacitated” attempted to help the other five escape the incoming water.

“But at some point the ship somehow lost communication,” with the two sailors and they also perished, according to the official. All seven were found dead in the flooded area.

The official emphasized that the Navy will wait for all the investigations to be completed before coming to any conclusions about the actions of the crew and decisions over citations for heroism or potential disciplinary action.

The official also strongly emphasized that no judgments are being made about the timing of the decision to shut the watertight hatch. It is also not clear if those on the bridge called the commanding officer as the crisis unfolded.

New details emerge in investigation of USS Fitzgerald collision that killed Oakville sailor
 
USS Fitzgerald Memorial Service

These are excerpts from the June 27, 2017 Yokosuka, Japan memorial service for seven sailors who died aboard USS Fitzgerald on June 17, 2017. Speaking are Adm. Scott Swift, commander U.S. Pacific Fleet and Vice Adm. Joseph Aucoin, commander U.S. 7th Fleet.


In Washington, D.C., acting Navy Secretary Sean Stackley issued instructions for the U.S. flag for “the National Ensign of the United States shall be flown at half-staff from sunrise until sunset on 27 June 2017. As the Fleet strives to work through these trying times, we come together to honor the heroic efforts of our brave Sailors and international partners and support those currently standing the watch,” read a statement from the service.
 
It's going to be a hot minute before we figure out what happened. There will be a lot of conjecture until then by people who weren't there.
 
It's going to be a hot minute before we figure out what happened. There will be a lot of conjecture until then by people who weren't there.

Sir, in your opinion do you see a conclusion to this investigation, and then report issued before year's end?
 
Sir, in your opinion do you see a conclusion to this investigation, and then report issued before year's end?
I would imagine so. No one wants to drag this out. The Navy will fire everyone involved, then investigate every possible angle to this scenario. Then fire anyone they missed.
 
You mean they knew in advance a warship was coming and managed to move a 700ft ship accurately onto such a target? No, this is negligence.
 
@Red Flag 1 ... I gotta agree with @SpitfireV on this one, J.

What merchant Captain in his right mind would jeopardize his ship and especially his career pulling a stunt like that?

(But it's always refreshing to see a contrary and sinister interpretation of events:sneaky:;-):thumbsup::D)
 
Erratic boat-handling, leaves the scene, returns much later before calling authorities....anyone leaked the merchant crew's toxicology reports? Boating while intoxicated.
 
Erratic boat-handling, leaves the scene, returns much later before calling authorities....anyone leaked the merchant crew's toxicology reports? Boating while intoxicated.

It is rumored the Japanese captain graduated from the Chappaquiddick Merchant Marine Academy.
 
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