US Destroyer and Japanese merchant collide, 7 missing.

[Birds Away]

Looking at this through a truck drivers eyes , I'm used to dodging people , cars and things in confined spaces in a big truck but that's Army training for ya . Tnh navy has the whole freakin ocean and STILL manages to hit stuff with their boats, WTF navy ?

We get the same thing from Air Force and Navy pilots who are used to flying with a few feet of each other. That is until the Navy pilots get senior enough to be assigned to drive ships. They stop asking after that.

 

[Birds Away]

https://www.stripes.com/news/pacifi...7-sailors-still-missing-1.473998#.WUUm7FTyvRY

Near the end of the above article is describes the merchant ship as having just completed a 360 degree circle when the collision occurred. That is really odd and, I am sure, contributed greatly to the incident.

 

[Spear Dane]

We get the same thing from Air Force and Navy pilots who are used to flying with a few feet of each other. That is until the Navy pilots get senior enough to be assigned to drive ships. They stop asking after that.

I know all carrier skippers started life as aviators, but do they start them driving a smaller ship first?

 

[Birds Away]

I know all carrier skippers started life as aviators, but do they start them driving a smaller ship first?

Yes, they usually start on an oiler or large amphib.

 

[Alamo]

Looking at this through a truck drivers eyes , I'm used to dodging people , cars and things in confined spaces in a big truck but that's Army training for ya . Tnh navy has the whole freakin ocean and STILL manages to hit stuff with their boats, WTF navy ?

Ships are no where near as nimble as trucks or airplanes. And just like airplanes, I think they tend to go to the same places and follow the same routes, so the actual size of the ocean doesn't matter so much when everyone is using the same parts of it.

 

[hoosierdoc]

https://www.stripes.com/news/pacifi...7-sailors-still-missing-1.473998#.WUUm7FTyvRY

Near the end of the above article is describes the merchant ship as having just completed a 360 degree circle when the collision occurred. That is really odd and, I am sure, contributed greatly to the incident.

1) perhaps their captains hat blew off and they were circling it until it could retrieved (name the reference)

2) maybe they were concerned someone was following them so they made four right turns

 

[hopper68]

1) perhaps their captains hat blew off and they were circling it until it could retrieved (name the reference)

2) maybe they were concerned someone was following them so they made four right turns

And just maybe they were Nascar fans and it was 4 LEFT turns. Crashing coming out of turn 4 is nothing new.

 

[hoosierdoc]

And just maybe they were Nascar fans and it was 4 LEFT turns. Crashing coming out of turn 4 is nothing new.

nope, clockwise.

it was a clear night so plenty of stars aboard the sky. Had it been storming I could understand any port maneuvers

 

[Wild Deuce]

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[actaeon277]

An interesting viewpoint from a social media posting:

yup. soooo much of this is true.

 

[radar8756]

That damage looks mild compared to what happened to the USS Belknap (the first in its own class of guided missile cruisers) when it collided with the USS John F. Kennedy (conventionally fueled aircraft carrier), as shown here:

I was on the USS LUCE (DDG-38) when this happened ( so 1975 - 1977 )... we had to escort the USS Belknap back to Norfolk

 

[radar8756]

I was on the USS LUCE (DDG-38) when this happened ( so 1975 - 1977 )... we had to escort the USS Belknap back to Norfolk

This happened when the Belknap was Refueling from the Kennedy in rough sea's ... only a few hundred yards apart going 10 knots ... one bad wave and Can-Opener (which was the Kennedy's nickname as bumps had happened before during Re-Fuelings )

 

[Spear Dane]

.

 

[oldpink]

I was on the USS LUCE (DDG-38) when this happened ( so 1975 - 1977 )... we had to escort the USS Belknap back to Norfolk

Oh yeah, a Farragut class.
We had several of those in Norfolk at the time I was there, with the Coontz and the Farragut herself coming immediately to mind.
I even slept on the Coontz for a few days when I first arrived at Norfolk because it was pierside and staying long enough to overlap the arrival of my ship (Richard E. Byrd) that was out at sea and on its way back.
One of our Gunner's Mates came to our ship from the Farragut.
He had a rather amusing story about getting revenge on his division officer (by his own account a major league douchebag) with said DO ordering him to do something unsafe with the 5"/54 caliber gun system that my technical knowledge leads me to know is a major league no-no.
The order was for him to deliberately short the electronics to force the gun to fire with the transfer tray, the component that lowers to the breech to load the gun before returning to the upright position clear of the recoiling parts, still down behind the recoiling part of the gun!
I would have refused such a grossly irresponsible order and faced the music (and would have walked away unscathed, of course) with the old man afterward, but he decided to exact revenge on the DO by hoisting him by his own petard.
It did over $10K worth of damage, and I'm sure that all the Gunner's Mates cleared out of the gun house right before forcing it to fire!

 

[Spear Dane]

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[JTScribe]

More insight to the U-turn. Matt Bracken theorizes possible sea terrorism, FWIW ...

Vessel of Interest | ??????????? ?????: Mapping the ACX Crystal's collision with the USS Fitzgerald using publicly available info

 

[Wild Deuce]

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[oldpink]

They are starting to find the missing sailors.

The collision happened at about 2:30 in the AM, and it's believed that most of the men who were killed or wounded were in their berthing spaces, sleeping at the time or (in the case of the old man) the cabin.
Something about this doesn't smell right, though.

 

[Spear Dane]

More insight to the U-turn. Matt Bracken theorizes possible sea terrorism, FWIW ...

Vessel of Interest | ??????????? ?????: Mapping the ACX Crystal's collision with the USS Fitzgerald using publicly available info

That is a VERY interesting article. ACX was acting in a bizarre manner.

 

[TB1999]

Rip those killed. Thank you for your service.