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Uss Fitzgerald Collision


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Seven sailors missing, three injured after U.S. Navy destroyer collides with container ship off Japan
By Idrees Ali and Tim Kelly | TOKYO/WASHINGTON
Seven sailors are missing and three injured after a U.S. Navy destroyer collided early on Saturday morning with a Philippine-flagged container ship south of Tokyo Bay in Japan, the U.S. Navy said.
The Japanese Coast Guard said the destroyer was experiencing some flooding but was not in danger of sinking, while the merchant vessel was able to sail under its own power.
The U.S. Navy said in a statement the USS Fitzgerald, an Aegis guided missile destroyer, collided with a merchant vessel at about 2:30 a.m. local time (1730 GMT), some 56 nautical miles southwest of Yokosuka, a rare incident on a busy waterway.
Three aboard the destroyer had been medically evacuated, including the ship's commanding officer, Cmdr. Bryce Benson, who was reportedly in stable condition after being airlifted to the U.S. Naval Hospital on the Yokosuka base, the Navy said.
The other two injured were transferred to the hospital to treat lacerations and bruises, it said. The Fitzgerald, the Japanese Coast Guard and Maritime Self-Defense Force were searching for the seven missing sailors.
Benson took command of the Fitzgerald on May 13. He had previously commanded a minesweeper based in Sasebo in western Japan.
UNCLEAR WHAT HAPPENED
It was unclear how the collision happened. "Once an investigation is complete then any legal issues can be addressed," the 7th Fleet spokesman said.
"The USS Fitzgerald suffered damage on her starboard side above and below the waterline," the Navy said in a statement.
The full extent of damage to the ship and injuries to its crew were still being determined, it said, adding that the Fitzgerald was operating under its own power, "although her propulsion is limited". The ship, part of an eight-ship squadron based in Yokosuka, had in February completed $21 million worth of upgrades and repairs.
A spokesman for the U.S. 7th Fleet said the ship was heading back to Yokosuka under its own power at 3 knots.
Japan's Nippon Yusen KK (9101.T), which charters the container ship, ASX Crystal, said in a statement it would "cooperate fully" with the Coast Guard's investigation of the incident. At around 29,000 tons displacement, the ship is about three times the size of the U.S. warship, and was carrying 1,080 containers from the port of Nagoya to Tokyo.
None of the 20 crew members aboard, all Filipino, were injured, and the ship is not leaking oil, Nippon Yusen said. The ship was due to arrive at Tokyo Bay around 4:30 p.m. (0730 GMT), the Coast Guard said.
BUSY WATERWAYS
The waterways approaching Tokyo Bay are busy with commercial vessels sailing to and from Japan’s two biggest container ports in Tokyo and Yokohama.
International maritime rules for collision avoidance do not define right of way for any one vessel, but provide common standards for signaling between ships, as well as regulations on posting lookouts.
The USS Dewey and two Navy tugboats had been dispatched to provide assistance to the damaged destroyer, the Navy said.
Japan's public broadcaster NHK showed aerial footage of the ship, which had a large dent in its right, or starboard, side. Images broadcast by NHK showed it had been struck next to its Aegis radar arrays behind its vertical launch tubes.
The images showed what appeared to be significant damage on the deck and to part of the radar. NHK also showed footage of the container vessel and said it was heading towards Tokyo under its own power.
Such incidents are rare.
In May, the U.S. Navy's USS Lake Champlain collided with a South Korean fishing vessel but both ships were able to operate under their own power.
The 7th Fleet commander, Vice Admiral Joseph Aucoin, thanked the Japanese Coast guard in a post on the fleet's Facebook page, adding: "We are committed to ensuring the safe return of the ship to port in Yokosuka."

 

(Additional reporting by Phil Stewart in Washington, Linda Sieg, Kiyoshi Takenaka and Chang-Ran Kim in Tokyo, Raju Gopalakrishnan in Manila, Chizu Nomiyama in New York; Writing by Yara Bayoumy; Editing by Bill Tarrant)

 

LINK http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-navy-asia-idUSKBN1972SW

 

The superstructure damage is pretty big, but I guess the real issue is under the waterline if she is limited to 3 knots?

 

 

 

 

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Looking at them. I presume the light blue ship would be Fitzgerald? If so... Sharp turn to avoid collision with something else (the dark blue ship) leading the Crystal to run into Fitzgerald?

EDIT: Link tot he article http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-40310563

Edited by Marek Tucan
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That pic could be out of date, doesn't look like it tried to avoid 2 collisions, the turn is intentional and speed seems to be around 12-13 knots until the collision.

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Ah OK, the map marks are current positions of ships int he area, not at the time of the crash.

 

On the track there seem to be two moments when the ship slowed down considerably (in that jumbled mess) - I guess any recording there is probably not too reliable, but there is the first u-turn with normal deceleration in a turn, then acceleration back to speed, then deceleration going down to ~3 knots, soon after full stop, then sailing again (so I guess collision - stopping afterwards to check everything and the other party - then to port). Wonder how did tit all happen

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Hope at least some of the missing are somehow found alive. I know a lot of heavily damaged ships have been repaired over the decades, but given the Burke's are still in production, I wonder if it makes more sense to spend the money on new construction vs. repairs.

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Ah OK, the map marks are current positions of ships int he area, not at the time of the crash.

 

On the track there seem to be two moments when the ship slowed down considerably (in that jumbled mess) - I guess any recording there is probably not too reliable, but there is the first u-turn with normal deceleration in a turn, then acceleration back to speed, then deceleration going down to ~3 knots, soon after full stop, then sailing again (so I guess collision - stopping afterwards to check everything and the other party - then to port). Wonder how did tit all happen

 

Ah OK, the map marks are current positions of ships int he area, not at the time of the crash.

 

On the track there seem to be two moments when the ship slowed down considerably (in that jumbled mess) - I guess any recording there is probably not too reliable, but there is the first u-turn with normal deceleration in a turn, then acceleration back to speed, then deceleration going down to ~3 knots, soon after full stop, then sailing again (so I guess collision - stopping afterwards to check everything and the other party - then to port). Wonder how did tit all happen

 

The first turn could be because they were going too early for the ETA and tried to loose some time without messing with the engine or trying to deal with Tokyo Bay traffic. The surefire cause is poor watchkeeping on both ships.

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Hope at least some of the missing are somehow found alive. I know a lot of heavily damaged ships have been repaired over the decades, but given the Burke's are still in production, I wonder if it makes more sense to spend the money on new construction vs. repairs.

 

The ship is 22 years old already, so it could be used as a source of spares for its older sisters, but it seems nothing critical was broken so it may bre repaired after all.

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I dunno...seems damage is worse than USS Cole and that costed over $200M to repair. OTOH USN has been complaining shortage of hulls, so they're probably not too eager to declare CTL.

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7th Fleet update: A number of missing sailors have been located in flooded compartments, they have been transferred to the Naval Hospital in Yokosuka for identification purposes.

 

http://www.c7f.navy.mil/Media/News/Display/Article/1217825/uss-fitzgerald-collision-update-1033am-jst-june-18-2017/#.WUXZvwAnLVQ.facebook

Edited by DKTanker
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So it really was towed into port, and as not capable under her own power. The initial USN reports have been remarkably inaccurate and seemingly disingenuous.

 

Maybe she was capabel to sail under here own power, but chose not to do that becuse helpe was available. Think if the propeller shaft was a little bent or misaligned becuse of the collision, in a war scenario you can ignore it, but in peacetime,,,,you do not take the risk if you do not have to.

Edited by a77
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So it really was towed into port, and as not capable under her own power. The initial USN reports have been remarkably inaccurate and seemingly disingenuous.

 

She made her way under power until the tugs showed up, at which point they established a tow to help bring her in. Her forward engineering space was flooded or at least out of action, meaning she was down to one shaft and the pumps needed priority to keep the ship afloat.
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