OT: Another US Navy warship collides with a commercial vessel

[Lion8286]

With millions of dollars in navigation equipment on-board plus human look-outs how is it possible for two of these collisions to occur in the past few months?

Ten US Navy sailors are missing after a US Navy guided-missile destroyer collided with a merchant ship east of Singapore early Monday, the Navy said in a statement.

The Navy's 7th Fleet said the USS John S. McCain collided with the merchant vessel Alnic MC while the destroyer was making its way to a port visit in Singapore. The collision was reported at 5:24 am local time, according to the Navy statement.

A Navy official told CNN the McCain was fighting flooding in several places and that it had limited propulsion and electrical power. The Navy said the McCain was steaming under its own power to port.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/20/asia/us-navy-destroyer-collision-singapore/index.html?adkey=bn

 

[Fox Chapel Lion II]

Whatever the Navy's plan is for training Officers of the Deck, it needs to go straight to File 13, because it ain't working and it sucks.

 

[wilykyote]

Extremely embarrassing

 

[Fox Chapel Lion II]

Extremely embarrassing

I could not care less if the Captain, the Squadron Commander, COMSEVENFLT or the frickin' CNO is embarrassed. They OUGHT to be embarrassed.

I care about killing our sailors and taking major combatant ships off the line because some jagoff LTJG doesn't know what the hell he/she is doing and can't be trusted to navigate a tricycle. That is what I care about.

 

[RandyL]

Doesnt exactly inspire confidence in our vaunted military superiority.
Guess we need a new defense system to protect us from fishing boats and such.

 

[The Spin Meister]

Was just gonna post that the CO, the CEO, and several others on the Fitzgerald have been relieved of duty. With more expected.

 

[ILLINOISLION]

Heads need to roll for this, there is NO excuse with today's technology for this to happen, let alone happen twice within a few months of each other.

 

[bsmith51]

Concerning and embarrassing. Accidents like this shouldn't happen with competent folks at the helm.

 

[psu00]

How in the world does this happen? 2 US Navy ships have hit freighters. Another ran aground in Tokyo bay spilling oil and yet another hit a South Korean fishing boat. All 4 of those incidents this year.

How in the world does something get so close to these ships without warning and do so much damage?

 

[PSU.:.]

As a former boatswain mate in Navy it's not that surprising to me. There a lot of incompetent and just plain dumb as a shite officers, specially junior officers navigating naval ships.

 

[massimoManca II]

Or, someone is hacking into the automatic pilots of frieghters...

 

[psu00]

Or, someone is hacking into the automatic pilots of frieghters...

I wondered about that as well once I heard this news (Hacking either the freighters or the Navy vessels).

Then I remembered the episodes of Russian and Chinese planes buzzing US Navy ships without consequence and I wonder if the Navy has become blasé or timid in enforcing any kind of exclusion zone around the ships.

Would love to hear Navy folks opinions on what's going on with these events.

 

[OldTiredLion]

Incompetent officers in the Navy aren't exactly a new phenomenon in all areas, surface warfare, naval aviation, submarine service, everything. As a PO2 during the early 70's I had a very intense confrontation with an newly-minted Ensign in the helo squadron I served in. Fortunately our XO sized him up quickly enough to have him shipped out before he got anyone killed due to incompetence. Sadly, too many still slip through the cracks, often because of politics and even nepotism. I wouldn't be surprised if any of these incidents weren't rooted in those issues although we'll probably never read that in any "official" report.

 

[Lion8286]

Or, someone is hacking into the automatic pilots of frieghters...

How in the world would that prevent the US Naval ship from taking evasive action?

 

[Rhino80]

Not Navy , but was a Marine Officer for 20 years. Sad part is , you don't here about the huge amount of close call that don't end in tragedy. Having done multiple Med floats on a ships , while sad , this is not at all surprising.

 

[SUPERTODD]

This is the results one would expect after decades of promoting the politicization of our military.

 

[RGWhirly]

Would be great for them to find the sailors alive but sadly it likely will not be a good outcome for the missing ten. ☹️

 

[NittanyLionRoar]

Most, if not all, of these Navy ships get on the radio to command anyone in front of them to get out of the way of the U.S. Navy. I'm always surprised when they're not ready to get themselves out of the way when the boat they're squaking at doesn't speak English, or doesn't have a proper working radio, or doesn't care, or doesn't think the Navy is talking to them, etc.

 

[denniskembala]

If you read any of USN_Panther's posts it's not hard to see how these things happen. It's a disgrace that halfwit is in the Navy.

 

[rumble_lion]

With millions of dollars in navigation equipment on-board plus human look-outs how is it possible for two of these collisions to occur in the past few months?

Ten US Navy sailors are missing after a US Navy guided-missile destroyer collided with a merchant ship east of Singapore early Monday, the Navy said in a statement.

The Navy's 7th Fleet said the USS John S. McCain collided with the merchant vessel Alnic MC while the destroyer was making its way to a port visit in Singapore. The collision was reported at 5:24 am local time, according to the Navy statement.

A Navy official told CNN the McCain was fighting flooding in several places and that it had limited propulsion and electrical power. The Navy said the McCain was steaming under its own power to port.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/20/asia/us-navy-destroyer-collision-singapore/index.html?adkey=bn

“Chatfield, there seems to be something wrong with our bloody ships today.”

 

[TenerHallTerror]

This is the results one would expect after decades of promoting the politicization of our military.

what an ignorant and hateful thing to say

 

[Ct. Lion]

Looking at the pictures of the destroyer it looks like it was rammed on the rear side. Maybe it wasn't an accident. This destroyer carries weapons systems that could be used in the event of a North Korean missile launch.
The Navy has been victim of various terrorist type attacks over the years. The Pueblo attacked and taken into custody by the North Koreans in 1968, the Iranian affair in the Straits taking Navy personnel not that long ago bracketing many other incidents in the intervening years.
China considers this area of the world their domain and relations are strained over NOK and foreign trade so why not harass the U.S. Navy.