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: 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.