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An unspecified number of sailors have been found dead in sealed compartments aboard the USS John S. McCain. 10 were reported missing after the McCain collided with a merchant vessel near Singapore. The Malaysian navy also reported finding remains:
Swift said the Malaysian navy, which is conducting a search in the area where the collision took place, has also reported finding remains, but it was not yet clear if they were from the McCain. "We have a report from the Malaysians ... that they have found a body, we are in the process of effecting the transfer of the body," Swift told reporters.
"We are always hopeful that there are survivors. Until we have exhausted any potential of recovering survivors or bodies, the search will continue," he said.
In a statement posted earlier on its website, the Pacific Command said divers equipped with "surface supplied air rigs ... will access sealed compartments located in damaged parts of the ship. Additionally, they will conduct damage assessments of the hull and flooded areas."
Update: U.S. Navy to relieve Seventh Fleet commander after collisions in Asia
Previously: 10 Sailors Still Missing After U.S. Destroyer Collision With Oil Tanker
(Score: 2) by deadstick on Wednesday August 23 2017, @12:09PM (13 children)
Cameras, maybe. RFID? Not in a steel ship.
(Score: 2) by pkrasimirov on Wednesday August 23 2017, @12:57PM (2 children)
It will be alternative RFID.
(Score: 0, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 23 2017, @01:37PM (1 child)
alt-rfid. Helps locate far right stupid people.
(Score: 0, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 23 2017, @03:05PM
Please, go find your own horrible way to die.
(Score: 2) by GreatAuntAnesthesia on Wednesday August 23 2017, @01:22PM (8 children)
Put an RFID locator in every room, and network them up with cables. Where multiple locators can see a single spot, you can use them for triangulation to more precisely locate the tag.
It might sound pointlessly expensive but this is a warship we are talking about. They probably pay half a million dollars each for kevlar toilet seats.
(Score: 1, Redundant) by Grishnakh on Wednesday August 23 2017, @01:37PM (7 children)
This solution would add a huge amount of weight to the ship, because of all the extra cabling. Remember, each of these sensors will now require some kind of giant steel box in the room, fed by the power lines in the room, plus gigantic steel-covered armored cables to communicate the data to some other point on the ship. Multiply all that armored cabling by all the rooms in the ship and you've got a huge amount of extra weight.
It isn't like Star Trek TNG where they can make stuff tiny, hide it in the walls, and connect it with a little optical cable (see the episode about Picard being trapped in the turbolift with some kids): the Navy has everything overbuilt to the point of absurdity.
(Score: 4, Touché) by Snotnose on Wednesday August 23 2017, @01:59PM (5 children)
I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that's why neither ship sank.
Why shouldn't we judge a book by it's cover? It's got the author, title, and a summary of what the book's about.
(Score: 1, Redundant) by Grishnakh on Wednesday August 23 2017, @02:47PM (4 children)
No. Having far more cables that you need, for non-critical systems and over-armoring them doesn't keep ships from sinking. That's basic naval engineering and comes down entirely to the hull. Adding extra weight to a ship doesn't help keep it from sinking, quite the opposite in fact.
Navy ships aren't like modern cars where they design them as a complete system, using industry-standard CAN buses and having components from different manufacturers plug into this bus and interoperate. Instead, each component comes from a different contractor, and isn't just a component, but an entire system complete with cabling (separate from all other systems). This is good for the contractor because they can sell more overpriced crap (e.g. cable), and it's really good for the shipbuilder because they can charge many more hours to the government for installing it. Building a Navy ships is all about how many billable hours you can get away with charging to a government contract.
(Score: 1) by crafoo on Wednesday August 23 2017, @04:13PM (3 children)
I would bet that Navy ships are built similarly to USAF aircraft. In which case everything you said was wrong. Standard data and power buses. Holistic system engineering and design.
(Score: 1, Troll) by Grishnakh on Wednesday August 23 2017, @04:47PM (1 child)
Nope. You've obviously never worked at an old-world defense contractor, nor set foot on a US Navy ship.
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 23 2017, @09:52PM
Neither have you, you fucking poser.
(Score: 2) by tibman on Wednesday August 23 2017, @11:11PM
I was thinking the same thing. You wouldn't run new lines for new sensors. There is already an existing data network going to every room.
SN won't survive on lurkers alone. Write comments.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by bob_super on Wednesday August 23 2017, @05:44PM
Add to that that it's useless.
All Military have an "acceptable loss in peacetime" metric, and this kind of death is not epidemic (yet).
Plus the fact that after the ship gets hit, watertight compartments get sealed to save the ship, and the potential loss of life in a flooding compartment is a known factor which is not deemed a priority. Everyone knows it sucks, but until you're 100% sure of the state of the hull (which takes hours, at night), those hatches have to remain closed to avoid losing more lives.
Knowing for sure who is drowning is, to be blunt, a dangerous distraction.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 23 2017, @08:45PM
They should have had cameras all over the ship a long time ago but that would be a serious equalizer in a culture that is built around the exploitation of it's junior members. Literally nothing would get done if all the junior members were following the rules and senior members got busted for misbehavior.
Instead it's "shit rolls downhill" and junior members are expected to constantly break the law for the benefit of senior members who are then insulated from consequence.