The USS Fitzgerald, an Arleigh-Burke-class destroyer, has sustained heavy damaged today when it collided with a Philippines container ship, the ACX Crystal, just south of the Japanese port of Yokosuka. One US sailor was injured and evacuated from the ship, dna seven more crew members are unaccounted for.
Details of what happened are still not totally clear, but the Fitzgerald is said to have sustained heavy damage to its starboard side, having sustained some flooding from damage below the water line, and is slowly en route back to Yokosuka under limited propulsion.
The Philippine ship appears to have fared better, as while there hasn’t been any official statement, there’ve been no reports of injuries aboard the ship, nor indeed serious damage, with Japan’s NHK network reporting only some scratches along the ship’s bow.
The ACX Crystal was actually a fair bit larger than the Fitzgerald, 70 meters longer, and with over triple the displacement weight. The Navy has promised an investigation into the incident, and has dispatched a medical ship, along with tugboats, to the scene.
…
What incompetence… a ship full of advanced radar and mine-detection equipment doesn’t help much if its crew can’t keep track of what’s going on right in front of its bow.
That wont stop Trump from ordering twelve more though. Never underestimate the blind hubris of a man with a tiny penis.
Paid actor politicians don’t make decisions,
they only read from a script.
From photos, it appears the sheer line is broken on the starboard side.
As a practical matter, that means this ship is a total loss. “Repair” to a broken back amount to reconstruction of the hull. It can be done, but the time and expense are huge, and produce a ship not quite like new and still as old as it was. Better to put the money into a new ship.
That’s true, but if you floated that idea in certain circles you’d probably be met with all sorts of wild explanations- at least one of them would be that the Navy staged the accident just so they could get a new boat. Why? Ahhhhhh there’s the conspiracy theory just waiting to be written 😀
Checked a bit of info about the Fitzgerald. It’s almost 25 years old. That might have a bearing on whether it is worth being repaired at all.
The American crew have to have been drunk or doped up to make such a error, these light warships do not lack manoeuvrability. It’s really quite a jaw dropping mistake to make. Perhaps they mistook themselves for an ancient wargalley, and tried to attack by ramming their opponent?
From what I have been reading, it seems the container ship — four times the size of the destroyer — decided to make a sudden U-turn and plowed right into the destroyer’s starboard side. We got t-boned. Also, it was dark and that area had very heavy boat traffic at the time according to the Japanese Coast Guard. I would be pointing the finger at the container ship’s crew.
Another thing which has been straightened out: the merchant ship was flagged by the Philippines, but was in fact operated by a Japanese shipping company with a Filipino crew.
The ship was built in South Korea in 2008. It is owned by a Panama corporation. The owners behind that corporation appear to be Japanese, Dainichi-Invest Corporation, a Japanese ship investment firm, and the shipping company it operates for is part of the Mitsubishi conglomerate.
It is managed by a Filipino company, flagged in the Philippines, and had 20 Filipino crew, but the officers likely Japanese.
The real damage was done by its projecting bulbous bow, acting like an old-time ram. That is also where the ship’s own damage is located, said to be a considerable hole, but not visible either.
Thanks for the info, Mark. Appreciate it.
Was this the ship sent to intimidate North Corea??…………….
No. Yokosuka is the home base of the 7th Fleet since the 1950s. The destroyer was returning there after leaving Guam the day before. Since it is the USS Fitzgerald’s home port, many of the sailors have their families nearby.
The bodies of the seven sailors have been found inside the damaged area of the ship. No URL yet. RIP
We don’t know how the collision happened.
The Fitzgerald may have thought it could pass in front of the merchant ship, and been surprised by its speed. The merchant ship is unusually fast, rated 25 knots with a cruising speed of 23 knots, rather high for container ship of this size.
The container ship by some reports had been making odd extreme maneuvers in a heavily traveled narrow shipping lane. It may have made another one. These maneuvers are currently unexplained, both the pattern and the reason.
There are explanations other than fools who just ran into something, although that has happened too.
Be real, for a US destroyer must steer clear of any possible sabotage.
Surely, the man at the helm was asleep at the wheel.
In the sea as in the air, the one that is larger and slower always has right-of-way. So, don’t hold your breath waiting for the U.S. Captain to be held accountable by serving jail time.
PUBLIC — FOOLED AGAIN
Everything has been stored in memory, the ship location from second to second and every object detected by radar.
Surely, if the DOD does not go public, they are hiding something.
Also, I would think that if the merchant ship violated rules that their shipping company and capt. would be help liable for some damages.
One reporter claims that the shipping lanes are so congested that there are strict rules of navigation so someone screwed up (finally a reporter doing their job)
I once sarcastically noted that we would unleash some bad karma because of how Trump/Rohrbacher reacted to the ISIS terrorist attack on Iran.
Now I’m starting to wonder, a freak terror attack on Congress, a freak accident on a warship after our constant haranguing about the IRGC’s ‘unprofessional’ maritime activity. If there is a military, nuclear accident that would get real weird.