USS Fitzgerald Collision (and another: USS McCain)

**T2C** · 06-17-17, 06:39

The USS Fitzgerald was involved in a collision with a freighter and some of the crew members are reported missing. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...nt-vessel.html Let's hope they recover the crew members when they clear the flooded compartments.

Rescuers are searching for seven US Sailors thought to be lost at sea or trapped inside a damaged Navy destroyer which collided with a 29,000 ton cargo ship 56 miles off the coast of Japan Saturday.
The guided missile destroyer USS Fitzgerald suffered severe damage when the container ship ACX Crystal – which is four times the size of the naval vessel – plowed into it at 2.30am local time.
Aerial footage shows the crushed exterior of the 9,000 ton $1.5billion destroyer which is commanded by Commander Bryce Benson, who took over in May.
Japanese coast guard spokesman Yoshihito Nakamura said the rescuers are searching for the seamen who were thought to have been thrown into the sea or possibly trapped inside damaged sections of the destroyer. Two crew berthings and one engineering main space have been flooded.
Three aboard the destroyer were medically evacuated, including the ship's commanding officer, Cmdr. Benson, who was reportedly in stable condition after being airlifted to the U.S. Naval Hospital in Yokosuka, the Navy said.
The other two injured were transferred to the hospital for lacerations and bruises, while other injuries were being assessed, it said.

**ABNAK** · 06-17-17, 07:23

Not a Navy guy, so maybe I'm missing something. How do two large ships, on the open sea, no doubt with radar (for night use), run into each other? I can see if they were re-supplying and were therefore side-by-side, but it isn't like you crest a wave and suddenly say "Oh shit! A ship!"

**davidz71** · 06-17-17, 07:27

I was wondering the same thing. What are the chances that those individuals on each bridge were asleep at the wheel at the same time?

**prdubi** · 06-17-17, 07:32

My spidey senses tell me something else.

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**davidz71** · 06-17-17, 07:37

"Hold her steady while I go get a cup of coffee."

**Hmac** · 06-17-17, 07:40

I can't think of any way that this could be good for a captain's career.

**ABNAK** · 06-17-17, 07:49

Originally Posted by Hmac

I can't think of any way that this could be good for a captain's career.

He'll be submitting his retirement packet soon I'd imagine.

The Captain was medevacked to Japan.

**Pilot1** · 06-17-17, 08:20

Originally Posted by prdubi

My spidey senses tell me something else.

Do you think it was a purposeful collision?

**T2C** · 06-17-17, 08:43

I was stationed on a vessel that caused the decommissioning of the USS Robert Owens. It's a bad feeling when your ship hits another ship when you are miles off shore.

I'll be interested in what is learned during the investigation. Was weather an issue? Was there equipment failure? Were the vessels inside or outside a shipping channel? A collision at sea is definitely one heck of a way to wake up in the middle of the night.