[fireant911]

I, too, am at a total loss on how this could happen but mostly I am deeply saddened that it did… I served on two different ships, both were destroyers (USS Dewey DDG-45 and USS Hewitt DD-966). My first ship was homeported out of Charleston, SC and my second was out of Yokosuka, Japan – the same place as this unfortunate incident.

I have no idea on how this could ever happen; however, once, back in around 1989 on my first ship, we had a weak Lieutenant that knew everything acting as the Officer of the Deck while we were in the Persian Gulf. As it was the midwatch and dark, little could be seen though he was repeatedly warned that we there was a craft close to us. The CIC guys and sonar techs were becoming very vocal but this Lieutenant refused to acknowledge that any danger existed! Luckily ‘Crash Collins’, as he was referred to after the fact, FINALLY wised up and recognized that there was a problem, a huge problem off the starboard bow. Luckily, the two ships did not collide.

Heck, any of the folks that have served in the Navy will speak of the dangers when two ships intentionally get close together (for refueling). It is a difficult and dangerous maneuver even in the best of circumstances. I also remember the times when other Navies would almost ‘play chicken’ with other ships and would refuse to divert their course – things got tense but never a collision…

It is inevitable that the Commanding Officer, Executive Officer, and the Officer of the Deck will be retired. I would not dismiss the possibility of criminal charges being brought up against the OOD. This should have never occurred. The Maritime laws in Japan have specific “rules in traffic routes” although I remember seeing a news report that stated ‘the right of way’ was not identified. This is a sad, sad story and should not have ever happened.