SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
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
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Monday August 21 2017, @07:11PM (4 children)
It was never a great system, but it was better in the past with at least the subs and carriers having some decent names. IMO, naming a ship after a person is just a stupid idea, living or dead. If they're alive, it looks like some kind of major butt-kissing, and if they're dead that person can still be controversial. Fish aren't controversial; no one's going to be offended that the ship they're serving on is named the "Barracuda", but someone who's a minority might be offended at serving on a ship named after a slave-owner or a supporter of racist policies. Naming things for natural things, or for fanciful names like "Enterprise", "Defiant", "Independence" avoids all this, plus those kinds of concepts are generally things we hold in high regard as humans.
And how can they run out of fish names? There's tons of fish in the sea, and many of them also have multiple common names. Plus, the Navy regularly reuses ship names, so they only need as many fish names as the number of submarines currently in service. Ok, I guess they might want to shy away from some of the names: it probably wouldn't go over that well if they named a submarine the "USS Clownfish"....
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 21 2017, @08:22PM
Dunno man, it would be bad for the enemy's morale to learn they got sunk by a clownfish.
I say: instead of naming military gear after predators and big game, name them after small and cuddly animals!
Your boat got sunk by USNS Titmouse, your 14th wing was taken out by the Baby Gecko Strike Group & your mobile missile command was gobbled up by our Obese Panda special forces.
(Score: 3, Funny) by mhajicek on Monday August 21 2017, @08:56PM
USS Bloater
USS Slimehead
USS Spiny Lumpsucker
USS Slippery Dick
Plenty of fish names left...
The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek
(Score: 1) by dwilson on Tuesday August 22 2017, @05:36AM (1 child)
Oh my god, somebody might be -offended-?
Good. Fuck 'em. The world is a big, complicated place. Feelings take last place when you are serving on a ship of war, ready to kill or be killed for your country.
- D
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 22 2017, @07:26AM
That might not work so well when you realize that "your" country is actually a bunch of racist assholes.