USS Fitzgerald collision speculation

[L_Sludger]

The USS Fitzgerald, an Arleigh Burke class ship of the US Navy, has collided in a 'T-bone' style crash with a Phillipine merchant vessel that was much larger. The news says that seven sailors are missing and there are many injured. The skipper is among the injured.

The damage to the ship is substantial. Yet I still take pride in our Navy's damage control teams, the best in the world's history, for there is no situation they cannot overcome. So the ship is still afloat, but the men are very hard at work right now because it is taking on water at a substantial rate.

My thoughts and prayers are with the families of the missing sailors, and with the injured sailors onboard the vessel.
Godspeed to them and I hope those injured will recover fully.

 

[CT8]

We are not being told something.

 

[CKN]

Human Error-no conspiracy theory.....

 

[Garak]

Originally Posted By: CT8
We are not being told something.

It just barely happened a few hours ago, and certainly in a place not convenient for the media. We may have to be a bit patient.

 

[DeepFriar]

The AP reported about 7PM this evening that there were seven missing and one reported injured. Let's hope the numbers are more due to confusion.

 

[OVERKILL]

Awful news! Any details yet as to how big the merchant ship was that the destroyer ran into?

For some scale, here's a Burke with a carrier:

 

[JHZR2]

Originally Posted By: CT8
We are not being told something.

And what exactly would that be?

Thinking about our seven sailors first and foremost.

 

[RichardS]

I don't have a good frame of reference, so I did a little googling.

It's about 1.41 football fields in length.

That's a seriously large merchant ship to outsize the U.S.S. Fitzgerald!

maybe a supertanker of some sort?

I hope they are able to account for all the sailors, and there is no loss of life from either ship.

 

[JHZR2]

Originally Posted By: RichardS
I don't have a good frame of reference, so I did a little googling.

It's about 1.41 football fields in length.

That's a seriously large merchant ship to outsize the U.S.S. Fitzgerald!

maybe a supertanker of some sort?

I hope they are able to account for all the sailors, and there is no loss of life from either ship.



ACX Crystal displaces 29000 tons.

A Burke is about 8800. More agile, but who knows the situation?

 

[beanoil]

I'm thinking of the well being of all involved also.
But I have to ask, and please excuse my ignorance here, I have no reference point on anything Naval...
How can the boats on Deadliest Catch find crab in the Bering Sea, but two boats collide in open ocean? It's a serious question.
Sonar, radar, periscope? What failed?

 

[L_Sludger]

Originally Posted By: beanoil
What failed?
My WAG is that eventually there will be some blame put on human factors. For now I hope the missing sailors are found.

 

[SZR48207]

Not a boat person, but how on earth do ships collide with one another, especially with enough impact like we see here? (the context being.. the sea does not have lanes or roads.. so it's not like the ships HAD to be close to each other)

 

[BrocLuno]

You're not a boat person. The sea does have lanes where commercial traffic is high and maneuvering room is constrained.

Navy does not operate like many commercial vessels. And some commercial vessels loose steerage or one engine and drift out of lanes ... We'll have to get a fuller story ...

 

[ammolab]

About ten Sailors on the DDG, and several on the Cargo vessel, had to fail their assigned tasks for this to happen.

That Destroyer Captian is off the boat already, and that will be his last command.

 

[Dyusik]

Maybe this happened?

 

[69GTX]

I was a Navy Sub OOD and steamed at night and/or fog in busy waterways like the English Channel or Bahama's. It's not easy, especially with a low profile above water and very limited surface maneuverability. This collision looks more like an open water hit with both vessels headed in the same general direction. If that huge container ship really T-boned the Burke Class at cruising speed (doesn't seem so), it could have cut her in half (see the USS Belknap collision with carrier JFK).

This was a late at night collision with less crew members up and around. The CO could have been sleeping and called to the bridge too late. There are typically rules to contact him when any ship approaches to within X miles...often as far out as 5-10 miles, or possibly any distance out for a vessel of size. Hard to believe the Burke Class couldn't see the other ship coming a long ways off and maneuver away....same for the merchant. The Burkes probably have their radar signature effectively reduced and distorted...could be hard for a merchant to know what she was. Rules of the road should favor the ship steaming in from the right (ie the container ship). They would be more constrained due to their size and limited ability to maneuver.

My prayers go out to the crew and family of the USS Fitzgerald.

 

[69GTX]

Some articles erroneously state that the CO had only been in command a month. He's been CO about a year. Normal CO tours on this ship have been about 18 months. Interesting that the current CO came aboard as XO in November 2015 via the surface Navy's "Command Fleet Up" program. I was not aware they had such a program. The current XO reported in March under the same command fleet up program.

 

[PimTac]

It is being reported that one of the berthing compartments was flooded and that may account for the seven missing sailors. In addition, the Captain was seriously injured and airlifted off. For anyone familiar with this class of destroyer, did the collision affect officers country and or the captain stateroom? The lower part of the superstructure is a common place to locate that.

Too many questions to speculate. Radar, watches, radio comms? We will eventually get the word. Right now the news channels are turning into instant sailors with their speculation. I refuse to watch.

Former USCG. Four years at sea.

 

[L_Sludger]

Thank you to our forum veterans for your service to the nation, and also thanks to those who have posted in this thread. Your perspectives are much appreciated.

 

[john_pifer]

Originally Posted By: ammolab
About ten Sailors on the DDG, and several on the Cargo vessel, had to fail their assigned tasks for this to happen.

That Destroyer Captian is off the boat already, and that will be his last command.


Yep.

Both ships have radar and would have been aware of each other long before any collision.

There is no excuse for this, especially for our guys.

Prayers for the injured and missing, and their families.