Another USN ship in collision
 

Not a good year for the USN.

https://www.dvidshub.net/news/245407/uss-john-s-mccain-collides-with-merchant-ship-near-strait-malacca

The guided-missile destroyer USS John S. McCain was involved in a collision with a merchant vessel east of Singapore and the Strait of Malacca, the 7th Fleet announced in a tweet.

No immediate word on any casualties. Search and rescue efforts are under way in coordination with local authorities, the Navy said.

Initial reports indicate the warship sustained damage to its port side aft.

#USSJohnSMcCain involved in collision with a merchant vessel while east of the Strait of Malacca. Updates to follow. https://t.co/6bHUovT8eI pic.twitter.com/EVcYjHwXah

— 7th Fleet (@US7thFleet) August 20, 2017
The warship is named after John S. McCain, Sr., and John S. McCain, Jr., both Admirals in the U.S. Navy, and the grandfather and father, respectively, of the Arizona senator.

The ship is based at the fleet's homeport of Yokosuka, Japan. It was commissioned in 1994 and has a crew of 23 officers, 24 chief petty officers and 291 enlisted sailors, according the Navy's website.

CHINA IRKED BY NAVY DESTROYER SAILING IN SOUTH CHINA SEA

This crash came days after the top three leaders aboard the USS Fitzgerald were relieved of command. That warship was damaged badly in a collision off the coast of Japan that killed seven sailors in June. One of its compartments flooded in about 90 seconds.

The USS John S. McCain sailed by contested man-made islands in the South China Sea earlier this month, drawing China's "strong dissatisfaction." Sen. McCain recently visited the warship in Vietnam.

This marked the fourth mishap for U.S. Navy ships in the Pacific since February.

Aside from the USS McCain and USS Fitgerald incidents, the Navy crusier USS Antietam ran aground dumping over 1,000 gallons of oil in Tokyo Bay in Februray. In May, another cruiser, USS Lake Champlain, hit a South Korean fishing vessel.

Fox News' Lucas Tomlinson and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Reports indicate search and rescue efforts are underway. That doesn't sound good.

Maybe there should be a stand down and have a Bridge Operation review.

I'm going to speculate that there's more to this story that we aren't being told, which is ok.

Not good.

Either something's up or Gillian and the Skipper have taken over the USN.

I'm hoping it's the former.

Honestly, I think it's time to institute some kind of standards before one can captain a billion dollar piece of state property. Mastery of the 'Port is left (red), Starboard right (green)' would be a good starting point.

I'm sure the Russians, Chinese, NK, etc. are impressed with the competence on display. Probably just waiting for the U.S. Navy to destroy itself via multiple collisions. You always hear how their equipment doesn't functions as claimed. Maybe it's more wide spread than we know.

Seeing they got hit on the side by a 600' tanker they must have cut across the tankers path.

"The merchant vessel, Alnic MC, is a 30,000+ ton oil/chemical tanker built in 2007. It's 600 feet long and 105 feet wide and sails under the Liberian flag. Its owner according to searches is Energetic Tank Inc. and its operator is Stealth Maritime Corporation S.A."

How can you not see something that large on your radar?

What the heck is going on with our Navy?
5 sailors injured and 10 missing.

Same speculation here.

answer is right before your question.

If I have the correct, both the Fitzgerald and McCain are stationed out of Yokosuka Naval Base in Japan. Sounds like more heads than just the ship personnel are going to roll.

It was bound to happen. The McCain can only turn to port. Design flaw of some sort I hear.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/0-JA1ffd5Ms" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Isn't this the same gubmint that is trying to force self-driving cars down our collective throats?

Yes, I believe it is.

perhaps if we took the CEO's of google and Amazon along with Musk and tied them at various points around the sides of our navy ships, in the fashion of a dock bumper, we would finally be getting positive use from their existence.

Depending on exactly where the collision took place, the Straights of Malacca are like driving ships in a river or small stream. Having been through there on the CVA(N)65, CGN25, CGN 35 and CGN 39 at all times we had special watches manned and also guns locked and loaded because of pirates! There are bouys that tell you where to go or there were? If a super tanker or super sized container ship is transiting at 5 to 7 knots then there is very little room for any thing else to get by as you can see land on both sides.

How rough this can be is illustrated by the war India and Pakistan had back in 1972 or so and I was on the Big E. We were on Yankee station and were ordered to get into the Indian Ocean at MAX KNOTS to provide air cover for the evacuation of civilians. We went past Singapore at 32 knots and entered the Straights at full bore! The ship broadcast on all their marine channels to move out of the way, now! We saw what looked like a huge tanker moving across our path about 5 or 6 miles ahead. When we got close to it the ship turned out to be the stern of a monster sized oil tanker that had moved over for us! In looking aft of the ship you could see small fishing boats getting swamped by our wake! Oh yeah, we made it on time!

Did you run into any other ships?

Lemme answer that for you. the answer was no. You did not run into any other ships.
Which is the expectation.
if it is unsafe to navigate a waterway, then the expectation is that the ship goes someplace else.

Running into another ship is unacceptable.
I believe if I were in charge of that ship I could make sure that it did not happen. In fact I am sure of it.

Why couldn't that captain do it? Because he was operating his ship negligently. Either he and his crew were incompetent, or he ordered them to do put the ship at risk.

Endangering a vessel Is what they call it IIRC.
They can shoot people for that.

EDIT sorry for the rant, but it really pisses me off that families are going to be getting phone calls that their sons or daughters are dead for no good ****ing reason.

http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopo...-collision.jpg


http://a.abcnews.com/images/Internat...0_12x5_992.jpg

you'de think a ship like that can turn circles around a tanker all day and night long

Apparently someone DID think that and missed by that much.

Well you'de think they have people in control of those ships, who know what they can and can't do.

Big E at 32 knots! Man, that would be something to see.

My understanding is the hit was in the birthing area. I pray that all 10 missing are not dead.

All the ships I was on never hit another ship although the Big E did bottom out once entering the channel in Hawaii!!! Seems we moved over as a commercial ship was drifting to port somewhat when it should have been going straight. I was the 1JV phone talker on the bridge and the capt. (Peterson) really got made and called the CO of the Coast Guard in Hawaii ship to shore to have the commercial ship stopped and fined for not proceeding in the way it should have been. We learned later that the master of that ship was passed out in his cabin and the 3rd mate was "driving"! They got a big fine.

I have had several of my students tell me that the bridge has 50% of the manning as it they used to have due to automation! I imagine that will finally change now! Another thing that could be a factor is the suction created when two ships on a parallel path go past each other. If the navy ship was going faster and passing, the suction created by the water passing between them can easily suck them right together! As an example when two ships such as an oiler and cruiser are running together for a refueling operation there is about 100 foot separation and the course has to be perfect otherwise they can close at over 20 feet a minute! I was in after steering on the CGN 25 during a couple refueling ops and the rudder had about 2 degrees angle to keep the ship away from the larger oiler.

Once is unacceptable but twice is just proof of a real problem in the navy.

We had a knot meter in my system space on the E and usually they'd turn off the signals during high speed drills. Let's just say I once saw us exceed the "official" top speed when they had forgotten to turn them off.

High speed full turns at 30 knots were a blast but, were tough on the kidneys. You found out really quickly how well your tie down efforts performed.

As always, JR is spot on. It is amazing how quickly the course can go south and the most trivial of mistakes can be devastating. My thoughts go out to the families of my mates. It's a rough reminder of how dangerous serving on the water can be even during routine peacetime OP's.

The sea always takes her due.

For the last decade at least much of our military is forced to spend more of it's training time doing "sensitivity" training instead of job training. This is the result.

I heard that from a Machinist Mate that served on a nuke carrier, USS Carl Vinson maybe. The official word was greater than 30 knots. They can do turns on those props that work out to a fair bit more than 30.

Sea water pouring in through the bulkhead would be a heck of a wakeup. Liable to be dead about the time you figured out what was happening.

For decades merchant marine officers have had a motto: If its grey, Stay Away!

Four incidents (three collisions and a grounding) in the Pacific fleet in 8 months would seem to indicate there is a need to revisit basic training in seamanship and ship handling.
Prayers to the families of the missing and lost crewmen.

Best
Les

"fair bit" is a good characterization.;)

Agreed on the wake up call.:(. We lost one mate up in the Alutians that still affects me to this day. Maintenance captain went over the side in a plane that they were backing up to park on the starboard elevator. Large seas, at night, canopy down because of rain. He had a lot of time knowing he was screwed till the pressure got him while the plane sank. No chance of recovering him.

Another victory for China in the battle for influence in Southeast Asia.

Ouch! What a way to go. RIP.

... and its operator is Stealth Maritime Corporation

That's funny I don't care who ya are, but the ship is actually named after his father and grandfather.
I don't know which of their legs were shorter ;)

rip.

RIP warriors....

Official: US Navy ship lost steering control before collision - CNNPolitics

Here are several thoughts to ponder while we worry about the lost sailors. A large ship such as a carrier has 4 void spaces between the ocean and the machinery/living spaces. They are about 8 feet wide if I remember as we inspected ALL of them before the Big E went into dry dock in 1973 for propeller and shaft work.

On initial sea trials the Enterprise went 44 1/2 knots and was going this fast went she went past the bridge - tunnel that crossed the inlet to the Chesapeake bay. The speed was slowed to max of 30 knots so the shafts would last, something like 6.5 million pound feet of torque!

Here is the scary item, most destroyer and cruisers have a sheet (1/2 to 3/4 inch) of mild steel between the ocean and whatever is inside. My desk area in the #2 engine room of the CGN25 had a large dent in the hull where we were banged by Mike boat!

Assuming that SSD (special sea dutymen) were close-up, the Steering Gear compartment should have been manned and ready to take over.

Maybe someone was adrift? The investigation will tell.

Wow that is a terrifying way to go.


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