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posted by Fnord666 on Monday August 21 2017, @04:37PM   Printer-friendly
from the the-US-Navy's-annus-horribilis dept.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/21/world/asia/navy-ship-mccain-search-sailors.html

Search teams scrambled Monday to determine the fate of 10 missing Navy sailors after a United States destroyer collided with an oil tanker off the coast of Singapore, the second accident involving a Navy ship and a cargo vessel in recent months.

The guided-missile destroyer, the John S. McCain, was passing east of the Strait of Malacca on its way to a port visit in Singapore at 5:24 a.m. local time, before dawn broke, when it 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.

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 Singapore Navy and helicopters from the assault ship America were rushing to search for survivors.

Also at Reuters.

Previously: U.S. Navy Destroyer Collides With Container Vessel


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  • (Score: 2, Informative) by pTamok on Monday August 21 2017, @06:28PM (1 child)

    by pTamok (3042) on Monday August 21 2017, @06:28PM (#557154)

    It's worth giving some time to understanding the rules concerning navigation of ships that are at risk of collision (COLREGS, or "International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea" )

    This describes a previous incident.

    https://warontherocks.com/2017/06/how-could-this-happen-the-fitzgerald-the-u-s-navy-and-collisions-at-sea/ [warontherocks.com]

    And this gives useful background:

    http://gcaptain.com/uss-fitzgerald-fault/ [gcaptain.com]
    http://gcaptain.com/uss-fitzgerald-fault-part-2-questions-answers/ [gcaptain.com]

    http://heavyliftnews.com/news/the-uss-fitzgerald-is-at-fault--this-is-why- [heavyliftnews.com]

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  • (Score: 1) by pTamok on Tuesday August 22 2017, @08:27AM

    by pTamok (3042) on Tuesday August 22 2017, @08:27AM (#557435)

    There is a good diagram and text in the warontherocks link above, which explains what might have happened.

    https://warontherocks.com/2017/06/how-could-this-happen-the-fitzgerald-the-u-s-navy-and-collisions-at-sea/ [warontherocks.com]

    A common error is to mistake an overtaking situation and a crossing situation, as we see in the “overtaking” situation graphic above this paragraph. A ship being overtaken is the stand-on vessel and so maintains its course and speed. If the other ship involved is to its right side generally, the second ship may believe the situation to be a crossing situation — and since it is to the right, it would be the “stand on” vessel. Two ships believing they are equally the stand-on vessel is a recipe for disaster.

    If the John S. McCain were the yellow vessel in the 'Rules of the Road' diagram, it is entirely possible the merchantman believed he was being overtaken, and not in a crossing situation. When it became clear that the John S. McCain was actually crossing, it was too late for the merchantman to slow down sufficiently or change course sufficiently to prevent a collision - which would give damage on the John S. McCain's port quarter. In conditions of constrained manoeuvrability, however, it is incumbent on the more manoeuvrable vessel to give way to the less manoeuvrable vessel - e.g. laden oil tankers navigating a dredged channel do not change course for sailing vessels or speedboats, because they can't. I'm not saying this is what happened, but it gives a plausible reason for damage being where it is.

    Even if the Navy vessel technically did not have to give way, it makes sense not to put your vessel deliberately in a position where a misunderstanding by the other party could lead to a collision, especially if you don't have to.