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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: 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.