Gaping Hole in USS John S McCain- 10 Sailors Lost Updating : USS John S. McCain Collides with Merchant Vessel- 10 Sailors MissingNYT's
WASHINGTON — United States Navy ships worldwide will suspend operations for a day or two this week to examine basic seamanship and teamwork following the second collision of a Navy destroyer and larger commercial ship in two months, the top naval officer said Monday.The officer, Adm. John Richardson, the chief of naval operations, said he had ordered two major actions after the collision between the destroyer John S. McCain and an oil tanker early Monday off the coast of Singapore that left 10 sailors missing and five injured.First, Admiral Richardson said he had ordered an “operational pause” for Navy fleet commanders to review within the week teamwork, safety, seamanship and other “fundamentals.” During that time, commanders will suspend ship operations for a day or two. Second, the admiral said he had ordered a broader, monthslong review to examine the specific situation in the western Pacific, where the Navy has suffered four major ship accidents since February.“That gives great cause for concern that there’s something out there that we’re not getting at,” Admiral Richardson told reporters at the Pentagon.At 5:24 a.m. local time, before dawn broke, the destroyer collided with the Alnic MC, a 600-foot vessel that transports oil and chemicals, the Navy said. The destroyer was damaged near the rear on its port, or left-hand, side.More than half a day after the crash, 10 sailors on the ship remained unaccounted for. Five others were injured, none with life-threatening conditions, a Navy official said. Ships with the Singaporean and Malaysian navies and helicopters from the assault ship America were rushing to search for survivors.Families of the ship’s crew members waited through the night in the United States, hoping for news of their loved ones.The collision occurred in one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes, a narrow waterway of strategic significance connecting the Indian Ocean with the South China Sea, where Beijing has been challenging American naval dominance. It immediately raised questions about the training and safety record of Navy ships, coming just two months after another Navy destroyer, the Fitzgerald, collided with a freighter off Japan, killing seven American sailors.
site of collision in the Strait of Malacca
“Clearly this is an annus horribilis for the U.S. Navy,” said Euan Graham, the director of the International Security Program at the Lowy Institute in Sydney, Australia.Kirk Patterson, a former dean of the Japan campus of Temple University who has crossed the Pacific in a sailboat and circumnavigated Japan, said the collision was “really hard to understand with all the technology that’s out there in the world on a boat, especially a naval destroyer that’s supposed to be the best in the world.”
For a destroyer to be hit by an oil tanker would be “like an F1 sports car and a garbage truck,” he said. “Which one is going to be able to avoid the collision? An F1 racing car equipped with state-of-the-art missiles.”
A destroyer going through a difficult a passage like the Strait of Malacca would typically have half a dozen sailors, including two officers, on the bridge watching for the lights of other ships, (that didn't happen) said retired Navy Capt. Bernard D. Cole, an adjunct professor at Georgetown University and professor emeritus at the National War College.In such clogged traffic, it would also be common for the commanding officer or the executive officer, the two most senior officers on board, to be on the bridge,(doubtful they were) he said. There would also be a navigator and other enlisted men in the combat information center scanning radar.
The oil and chemical tanker Alnic MC after the collision on Monday in waters east of the Strait of Malacca.I don’t think this ship was carrying much of anything from it's appearance. And the media isn't mentioning the load weight eitherComing hot on the heels of USS Fitzgerald leadership being 'kicked to the curb'
USS Fitzgerald Commanding Officers (Guilty) Relieved of Duties
Another F1 race car that hit a garbage can!
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USS Fitzgerald Was Likely At Fault in Collision with ACX Crystal
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USS Fitzgerald Failed To Respond to Warnings Before Fatal Collision
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The Far More Maneuverable Fitzgerald Will Likely Bear Much Of The Blame.
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Big Lie Damage Control: Altering Timelines/Saving Face for US Navy & the Fitzgerald
There are still other posts on the Fitzgerald We've been talking electronic warfare in the previous post comments- It's possible, but the human factor is a huge problem. If electronic warfare is occurring then eyes and hands on deck are utterly necessaryThis over reliance on technology is detrimental to us all. I also suspect arrogance is a huge factor. Over inflated entitlement and ego on the part of US/Britannia - ruling the seasAlso- The US Navy negligence/carelessness makes then both a nuisance and a danger on the seas.Think about if this ship had been carrying oil or chemicals? Ecological disaster.