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A U.S. Navy vessel has collided with a container vessel southwest of Yokosuka, Japan:
Seven U.S. sailors are unaccounted for after a Navy destroyer collided with a merchant ship southwest of Yokosuka, Japan, early Saturday local time, a U.S. official and the Navy said.
Some flooding was reported aboard the USS Fitzgerald, a 505-foot destroyer, after the collision with a Philippine container vessel at approximately 2:30 a.m. Saturday local time (1:30 p.m. ET Friday), about 56 nautical miles of Yokosuka, the U.S. 7th Fleet said.
Also at Reuters.
mrpg wrote in with another story about a U.S. Navy sailor who was reported missing and presumed dead after a search by the Navy, Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, and Japan's Coast Guard. He was found days later, hiding in one of the engine rooms.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Snotnose on Saturday June 17 2017, @01:23AM (26 children)
There goes another boat driver and boat driver's assistants careers. As well as whomever was riding shotgun and was supposed to navigate. Possibly as well the stoned dude in the back seat who was supposed to look out for cops.
Seriously, I'm waiting to hear how a modern destroyer can fail to notice a container vessel, which tend to be a step above huge.
When the dust settled America realized it was saved by a porn star.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 17 2017, @01:34AM (1 child)
How do you spell Schettino in American?
(Score: 1, Troll) by bob_super on Saturday June 17 2017, @06:56AM
George W. Bush.
Got a fine ship from the previous captain, ran it into the ground, fled but wasn't caught.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by frojack on Saturday June 17 2017, @01:47AM (21 children)
Nope. It will go farther up the line than that. The captain's career is done.
The sailor hiding in the engine room will probably face court marshal for dereliction of duty.
Probably the entire bridge crew is toast.
There's about 5 radar repeater stations on that ship. No excuse for SOMEBODY not to see that huge target.
Secret mission, lights out, radar off? Only possible salvation for those navy guys.
And the other ship owner will probably sue.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 2) by KGIII on Saturday June 17 2017, @02:05AM
Yeah... This is gonna be a wee bit more than a Captain's Mast. Someone's getting six, six, and a kick - at best. Probably quite a few of 'em.
"So long and thanks for all the fish."
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 17 2017, @02:21AM
Haw-haw, moar layoffs! Trump Trump Trump!!!
I wonder if the semen can get TSA jerbs after their disshonorable disscharges? Grope me, Captain!!!!
(Score: 2) by hemocyanin on Saturday June 17 2017, @02:44AM (13 children)
I found the comments in this article here very interesting: https://news.usni.org/2017/06/16/destroyer-uss-fitzgerald-collides-japanese-merchant-ship [usni.org]
The consensus opinion is that the Navy ship was the giveway vessel (Merchant was on Destroyer's right) and thus Destroyer is at fault in this collision.
(Score: 1) by anubi on Saturday June 17 2017, @04:09AM (10 children)
She sure is peeing out a lot of water... rip a seam below the waterline?
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 17 2017, @04:20AM (7 children)
You know how accurate the news can be, esp. when it's a fresh story... story is Navy ship is damaged above and below waterline. Pics show huge damage midship, starboard side. If she was rammed by the container vessel, there will be a big hole below waterline. Somewhat recently someone discovered that boats/ships move more easily in water with that big bulbous underwater bow projection commonly seen now. It's easy to search for pics if you haven't seen it. That thing would cause a mess of damage.
(Score: 1) by anubi on Saturday June 17 2017, @05:35AM (5 children)
Woooo.... I wasn't even thinking about that..... Likely we haven't seen hardly the start of the damage then.
Given the damage seen above the waterline, I can only imagine the damage below the waterline ( to both vessels ).
Sure explains the pee rate shown in the videos. Wonder why its not worse?
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 4, Informative) by KGIII on Saturday June 17 2017, @08:08AM (4 children)
Just to make sure...
Facing ahead, use your thumb and pointer to make an L. L is your left side. It has four fingers. Port has four letters. Port is on your left.
But, what I want to mention is that she will probably steam home under her own power. If not, they will send out a ship that can ballast itself, sink below her, and then remove the ballast and give her a ride home. She is pissing water because that is what she is supposed to do.
I put her odds of sinking at 0%. They have watertight compartments and certain hatches are closed while underway. You can break the beam and both halves will float, assuming protocol was followed. It's actually quite difficult to sink a USN ship. They kinda pretty much design it like that, which really is a bit obvious.
But, yeah, they will pump her out and keep pumping her out until she returns to port for repairs. The loss of life is unfortunate, but the ship will be fine.
Caution: Watch her when she comes into port. If it is full of excessive nationalism, there might be a problem. Tradition is, they don't make a scene when limping home. I don't recall the name of the flag, but they will be flying a flag that will be the utmost height, even higher than the Stars and Bars - I think? Either way, if there's a lot of fanfare, that speaks to an issue larger.
Anyhow, I should mention this is a ship. They get right pissed if you call it a boat. Subs are boats, for some reason.
The thing on the front is called a bulbous bow. It started in WWI with the bulbous forefoot.
Anyhow, they don't want a tragedy to go to waste. I'd keep an eye out for excessive nationalism, specifically. If this is televised, as in a hour long special, get your passport. I kinda doubt it, but it traditionally a quiet affair.
Source: Me. Eight years as a Marine. Marines are a under the Department of the Navy. Father did 32 years, bother did four, and the other side of the family was all Navy. I rode on their boat and did a lot of mopping. I painted a lot, too. That was how I guarded the boat. Seriously, they hate when you call it a boat.
Oh, they really do call it swabbing the deck. And, really, I had nothing better to do.
At first, it goes like this:
"Who here has a driver's license?"
Somebody steps forward.
"Good, then you are qualified to drive this mop."
Do not fall for that. However, if you don't fall for it, you will still be voluntold. Pissing water is what she is supposed to do.
But, that is enough digression.
"So long and thanks for all the fish."
(Score: 1, Troll) by aristarchus on Saturday June 17 2017, @09:26AM (1 child)
Thanks, KGIII, I love it when Marines attain self-consciousness!
(Score: 2) by KGIII on Saturday June 17 2017, @11:28PM
I can even count to 11 without having to pull out my pecker.
"So long and thanks for all the fish."
(Score: 2) by hemocyanin on Saturday June 17 2017, @02:00PM
Amusing but I'm out of mod points. As to port/starbord, the trick I heard is to think of the phrase "the ship left port" -- port is on the left.
(Score: 2) by number6 on Saturday June 17 2017, @02:32PM
"[is there any] red port [wine] left"
"red port left" is extrapolated from the sentence and repeated ad infinitum until it sticks in your head.
It becomes a fingertip mnemonic for the sailor to remember: Port is left and red, therefore Starboard is right and green.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Runaway1956 on Saturday June 17 2017, @01:55PM
Small correction, if I may. The damage is "forward". The boiler room is "midships", and the bridge is "forward". Thirty feet further forward, and the damage would be the starboard bow. Thirty to fifty feet further aft, the damage would have been to the boiler room. And, many ships have gone straight to the bottom when it's boilers were flooded with cold seawater. What I think of as a standard ship's layout means that flooding belowdecks is probably confined to crew's berthing, and maybe a couple of smaller storerooms. Of course, belowdecks layout may not match my own experience exactly.
(Score: 2) by hemocyanin on Saturday June 17 2017, @01:56PM (1 child)
If you look at the picture of the container ship, the bow bulb sticks way out in front of the visible damage above the waterline. That thing had to go somewhere and could well have punctured the hull.
(Score: 4, Informative) by frojack on Saturday June 17 2017, @09:12PM
http://www.vesselofinterest.com/2017/06/mapping-acx-crystals-collision-with-uss.html [vesselofinterest.com]
Marine radar and transponders tracking the container ship indicate a sudden speed reduction, and a 65 degree turn to to the right, after which it over corrected, back to the left, regained speed, slowed down and turned around and return to the scene.
That return took over an hour, but ONLY because it resumed its course AND SPEED instead of stopping all engines. You can't stop or turn a freighter that big in anything like a hurry. But they were increasing speed for 15 minutes before they slowly started reducing, and once they god down to 7 knots they turned the freighter in 9 minutes or so, and headed back.
The above linked site makes the case that the freighter was under autopilot, with no competent bridge personnel actually on the bridge for some time after the collision.
It may be well that the Fitzgerald got harpooned, and captured between that bulb and the bow, and acted as a huge bow rudder on the freighter. The destroyer may have been nearly rolled over to port, washing away any topside sailors.
The freigher turned 65 degrees in 3 minutes starting at 18 knots. I suspect that exceeds the safe rate of turn of a loaded ship that size. They might have been in danger of rolling over to port themselves simply because of the unusually fast course change.
There's just about no other way you could turn that freighter that fast.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Saturday June 17 2017, @07:00AM
Regardless of port and starboard, we can all agree that the captain who lets a navy ship get rammed by a freighter is at fault.
Even if an evil terrorist freighter was chasing him intentionally, he should have dodged, given the manoeuvrability gap.
(Score: 2) by canopic jug on Saturday June 17 2017, @10:23AM
It will be interesting, in a sad way, to get to the bottom of why the could not avoid the collision. In 1998, M$ Windows caused a crusier to be dead in the water [gcn.com] and have to be towed back to port like a barge. If Vista10 or any of its predecessors were infecting the control systems of this destroyer, then heads should roll in procurement ashore not just the bridge crew.
Money is not free speech. Elections should not be auctions.
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Saturday June 17 2017, @03:03AM
The sailor hiding in the engine room will probably face court marshal for dereliction of duty.
That part's wrong. You're confusing this with a separate incident on the USS Shiloh.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by captain normal on Saturday June 17 2017, @03:20AM (3 children)
The commanding officer is (was) Cmdr. Bryce Benson, So not yet a full Captain. Even if they were going dark they should have had big radar hit. Also a container ship that size surely had an active AIS which would only require an open receiver on the destroyer. Not to mention a sound signal like 100 torpedoes heading toward the US ship. His and a few junior officers careers are toast.
Navy vessels often do go "dark", no lights, no radio or radar transmissions. I had one pass about 100 yards across the bow of the 50' sail boat I was on during a delivery back to California from Hawaii 30 years ago. I only saw it because of a brief break in the cloud cover that let in just enough star light.
Still, like I mentioned above, they could easily have run an AIS receiver without sending out a signal and they should have "had their ears on"...sonar listening devices with out sending out a ping.
Those Arleigh Burke-class destroyers are capable of speeds over 30 knots, and those bog container ships can do 20. I'm not surprised at the damage.
Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts"- --Daniel Patrick Moynihan--
(Score: 2) by KGIII on Saturday June 17 2017, @08:10AM
From the sources, can you opine on maritime law? I have a passing familiarity but am not qualified to speculate.
"So long and thanks for all the fish."
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 17 2017, @02:49PM
I would love to see the utube video - ship crashes are f'n awesome to watch!
(Score: 3, Informative) by Runaway1956 on Saturday June 17 2017, @04:37PM
I should point out that the commanding officer of a US Navy destroyer is almost always a full commander, and sometimes a lieutenant commander. The CO of a cruiser or carrier is a full captain. Captains also fill the traditional role of commodores, that is, commanding small groups of ships. A destroyer squadron will be under the command of a captain, anything larger would have an admiral in charge. The last time I checked, the Navy had no commodores - the equivalent of a brigadier general, also known as a "one star general".
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Saturday June 17 2017, @02:13AM
They were training navigating by the stars and everyone was looking up? ;)
http://www.skyandtelescope.com/astronomy-news/u-s-navy-resumes-celestial-navigation-training-04042016/ [skyandtelescope.com]
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/11931403/US-navy-returns-to-celestial-navigation-amid-fears-of-computer-hack.html [telegraph.co.uk]
Can't believe they stopped training this...
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 17 2017, @05:46AM
As with the submarines routinely do hidding under other ships, the destroyer was hiding in the radar shadow of the container ship.
So even if they royaly screwed up, no, didn't fail to notice the container vessel, just didn't react in time to some issue.
(Score: 5, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 17 2017, @01:35AM (3 children)
US Ship: Please divert your course 0.5 degrees to the south to avoid a collision.
CND reply: Recommend you divert your course 15 degrees to the South to avoid a collision.
US Ship: This is the Captain of a US Navy Ship. I say again, divert your course.
CND reply: No. I say again, you divert YOUR course!
US Ship: THIS IS THE AIRCRAFT CARRIER USS CORAL SEA*, WE ARE A LARGE WARSHIP OF THE US NAVY. DIVERT YOUR COURSE NOW!!
CND reply: This is a lighthouse. Your call.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 17 2017, @01:46AM (1 child)
* [navy.mil]
(Score: 2) by mrpg on Saturday June 17 2017, @01:52AM
http://www.navy.mil/navydata/nav_legacy.asp?id=174 [navy.mil]
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Saturday June 17 2017, @11:14AM
Is it this conversation between a US naval ship vs Spanish authorities [youtube.com] ..?
Dunno why the Spanish land won't move out of the way.. :-)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 17 2017, @01:40AM (3 children)
As per http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-40310563 [bbc.co.uk]: currently 7 missing
Also, nice picture there...
(Score: 2, Informative) by anubi on Saturday June 17 2017, @01:50AM
Full of radar domes.... uhh missed the radar domes by 100 feet or so?
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 3, Interesting) by frojack on Saturday June 17 2017, @01:55AM (1 child)
Amidship-Starboard-on-navy to bow-port-on freighter.
Head on approach, last minute turn, and someone made a bad decision.
Glancing blow I'd guess.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 1) by tftp on Saturday June 17 2017, @04:25AM
Not being a sailor, I had to decode your comment a bit. Here is the Wikipedia link [wikipedia.org] with a picture. In it the pink ship (here the Navy) was supposed to yield to the yellow (container) ship. The latter was not required to change course; probably it even couldn't do that in time, when it became apparent that the Navy ship isn't turning or stopping.
Also [uscg.gov]:
As I can see from these rules, it's hard to imagine the situation when, short of a special agreement between captains, the container ship with mass that is easily 10x of the destroyer and having it on the port side would be expected to yield.
(Score: 3, Informative) by mrpg on Saturday June 17 2017, @01:59AM
7th Fleet
https://twitter.com/US7thFleet [twitter.com]
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 17 2017, @02:07AM
Finney [wikia.com]?
(Score: 3, Interesting) by DutchUncle on Saturday June 17 2017, @02:23AM (6 children)
I realize that a container ship has kilotons of momentum (and yes I also realize those are the wrong units), but isn't a Navy ship supposed to be tough enough to survive some attack damage?
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 17 2017, @02:32AM
My guess its like hardening a tank to withstand a freight train.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 17 2017, @02:39AM (2 children)
Could have been worse. At least it didn't sink.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 17 2017, @04:14AM (1 child)
Judging by the amount of water coming from the destroyer's bilge pumps visible in the photos, it looks like the came close to sinking the thing....if those bilge pumps shut down, it looks like it just might do a Titanic on us.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Saturday June 17 2017, @07:04AM
If they sealed the watertight compartments, it will not sink even without pump (the shipyard would face some really tough questions if it did).
But not sinking isn't the same as being seaworthy. It would limp to port or need help.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Saturday June 17 2017, @02:20PM (1 child)
No. The US Navy, and most other navies, build a steel hull, with an aluminum superstructure. There are all sorts of benefits to this, but an aluminum superstructure isn't very tough at all. You can shoot through most of it with a high powered rifle. There isn't any part of it that won't be penetrated by a .50 machine gun or cannon. Further, that steel part is not armored - today's navies don't rely on armor. The steel part of the hull is mostly only about 3/8 inch thick, maybe 1/2 inch in some places where a little more rigidity is desired. If you care to chase down relatively close up photos of aging destroyers, you will find places where the steel hull have been dented inward, so that the frames stand out.
First photo on this page shows some of that hammering damage, straight back from, and level with the bottom of the numerals, and almost even vertically with the leading edge of the gun turret. This is a pretty good photo - wonder if it's worth blowing up larger . . . Oh yes, download it and blow it up to fill your screen. You can see a good bit of sea damage all the way back to under the flying bridge. Another equally good photo from a different angle would show the frames standing out clearly amidships. There is more of the same at the stern, both port and starboard.
Oh, I mentioned aluminum superstructure. I believe the "superstructure" seam is just about two feet above the black painted waterline. I'm not certain of the precise location, but it is near the waterline.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Saturday June 17 2017, @04:42PM
I would have sworn that I pasted the URL into my post, but it isn't there.
http://www.maritimequest.com/warship_directory/us_navy_pages/destroyers/photos/richard_e_byrd_ddg23/ddg23_01.JPG [maritimequest.com]
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 17 2017, @03:02AM
I'm afraid this boat needs to hand in it's destroyer license.
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Saturday June 17 2017, @04:41AM
That name seems to have a curse [youtube.com] on it.
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 1, Offtopic) by aristarchus on Saturday June 17 2017, @06:21AM (3 children)
Breaking news? Breaking ship. But pushed to the head of the queue ahead of all the fine articles submitted by Soylentils? Who is the editorial voice of SN? Please reveal yourself, and make it official, so we know what we are up against when we submit news that matters, as opposed to yet another US Navy "error of navigation". Please?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 17 2017, @01:19PM (1 child)
I welcome a break from the Trump or large Silicon Valley company bullshit posts.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 17 2017, @03:22PM
Just you watch, in the end it will turn out that the collision occurred because Trump ordered the Navy to never yield, and the cargo ship didn't change course because the Captain was on Facebook.
(Score: 2) by n1 on Saturday June 17 2017, @10:21PM
It's quite obvious this story was put up by takyon. I was the second editor and approved this story. This story was put in IN ADDITION to our regular scheduled stories. The next story came out 40 minutes after, usually stories are 90 minutes apart, 120 minutes or so on weekends.
You are up against no-one when you submit a story, we all have different ideas as to what constitutes a good story.
No one has priority or can overrule another editor, it's as democratic as you can get. Takyon primarily submits stories but also drops in breaking news when it's applicable. No one gets special treatment, even as a senior editor, i've had stories rejected for subjective reasons.
There is no queue in submissions, each editor picks what they think is the most interesting or relevant story to the community. In addition to that we try to strike a balance to create a variety of topics.
There is no editorial voice, sometimes we agree on things, sometimes we disagree, no one has veto power on what gets published. Sometimes there isn't another editor around to get a second opinion on a story and we just do what we think is best.
But i'll say again, this story did not take priority over any other submission, it was run in addition to normal submissions.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Saturday June 17 2017, @02:27PM (2 children)
Sadly, I expect that some or all of the missing men will be found inside the flooded compartments, aboard ship. Someone may have gone overboard, can't rule that out, but if you're on the wrong side of the door in a confusing situation, you will stay on that side of the door when it is dogged down.
Sorry mate, but you're dead because you were trapped in there. If we open the door to let you out, along with thousands of tons of seawater, we may all die.
(Score: 2) by leftover on Sunday June 18 2017, @02:35AM (1 child)
Yes. Another plausible sequence is some guys going directly from their bunks into the drink. The photos look to me like a glancing blow rather than the freighter's bow into the side of the tin can. Less damage but still quite an uproar in the middle of the night. Having sotod many a midwatch in CIC, I too wonder how this happened. Container ships are impossible to miss on radar. That close lookouts could see them even on rather dark nights. If nothing else they blot out a lot of horizon and even sky. There is something more to this story, even if we never hear it.
Still feel sick for the crew members. Spam in a can, to borrow a phrase.
Bent, folded, spindled, and mutilated.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Sunday June 18 2017, @01:22PM
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2017/06/18/us-navy-calls-off-search-for-7-missing-sailors-several-bodies-found-inside-destroyer.html [foxnews.com]
My first weeks aboard ship, I had this recurring nightmare. I could hear the water rushing past the hull, inches from my pillow. My top bunk put me right at the waterline. I dreamed that water was flooding my berthing area. These men lived my nightmare.
Rest in peace, shipmates. Rest in peace.