USS Fitzgerald Collision

[Peter Cremer]

My brother was a 3rd class radarman on the Kenneth D. Bailey DDR 713 in the late 1950's and this 'accident' is like what happened to his ship. His ship was practicing some kind of maneuvers and had stay in formation and this meant (apparently) playing 'chicken' with the civilian freighters. He and the other radar operators started sending messages to the bridge, long before the collision, telling them that the ship was on a collision course with another ship and they could tell that all their warnings were being ignored. They continued to notify the bridge until they were ordered to 'shutup'. Shortly after that, the ship was rammed and one sailor was killed. The sailor's time was up and he was just riding the ship back to the States as a civilian. He said that at the inquiry, NOT EVEN ONE RADARMAN was called to testify. It was a complete 'white wash' for the captain.

I just thought I would throw this in to show that this stuff has happened before and more than likely it will happen again. The way things are now, just because you are a Captain of a U.S. Navy warship doesn't mean other ships are going make an effort to get out of your way.

[em2nought]

Originally Posted by Peter Cremer

My brother was a 3rd class radarman on the Kenneth D. Bailey DDR 713 in the late 1950's and this 'accident' is like what happened to his ship. His ship was practicing some kind of maneuvers and had stay in formation and this meant (apparently) playing 'chicken' with the civilian freighters. He and the other radar operators started sending messages to the bridge, long before the collision, telling them that the ship was on a collision course with another ship and they could tell that all their warnings were being ignored. They continued to notify the bridge until they were ordered to 'shutup'. Shortly after that, the ship was rammed and one sailor was killed. The sailor's time was up and he was just riding the ship back to the States as a civilian. He said that at the inquiry, NOT EVEN ONE RADARMAN was called to testify. It was a complete 'white wash' for the captain.

I just thought I would throw this in to show that this stuff has happened before and more than likely it will happen again. The way things are now, just because you are a Captain of a U.S. Navy warship doesn't mean other ships are going make an effort to get out of your way.

We had a guy die from slipping on ice and hitting his head. Medical gave him some aspirin, and sent him to bed. No one notice him missing for a few days, and by then he was in a coma. He later died. Nobody received any grief over it at all. Admiral said these things happen, oh well.

The bad thing about the Fitz is still the closing the hatch on that one hero. I'd rather have taken chances with sinking. You know the USN isn't going to want a broken toy. They'll fix it, but they'll probably quietly retire the Fitz as soon as they can to get a shiny new toy.

You'd also think that people might start realizing that it's unlucky to put "Fitzgerald" anywhere within a ship's name.

[Rockstar]

Not Gordon Lightfoot's Ballad of Edmund Fitzgerald! Glorifying another totally preventable accident at sea.

[Rockstar]

A report of one side of the story is Fitzgerald 'suddenly' altered course and crossed the path of the ACX Crystal. It also goes on to say Fitzgerald did not respond to any warnings. Keep in mind thats only one side of the story.

The U.S. Navy is still investigating.

http://news.trust.org/item/20170626101937-6xsul

[Mr Quatro]

Originally Posted by Rockstar

A report of one side of the story is Fitzgerald 'suddenly' altered course and crossed the path of the ACX Crystal. It also goes on to say Fitzgerald did not respond to any warnings. Keep in mind thats only one side of the story.

The U.S. Navy is still investigating.

http://news.trust.org/item/20170626101937-6xsul

Too busy to check, right now ... was that the article that said the container ship had been on autopilot, but saw the problem and was slowing down and turning and flashing it's lights at the destroyer all at the same time?

If so then that explains why the ship hit at an angle and wasn't going 14kts or it could've been a lot worse.

[Aktungbby]

BOTTOM line: from my roofer, a seventy year old Quartermaster(helmsman) navy retiree, aboard USS Ticonderoga; and my brother: helmsman aboard both USS Oklahoma City and USS San Bernadino, also a retiree; They were sleeping aboard the destroyer.... I defer to their practical expertise in the matter....

[Aktungbby]

Preliminary findings in the investigation into the collision between the USS Fitzgerald and a Philippine cargo ship off the coast of Japan in June suggest the accident was caused by multiple errors by the Fitzgerald's crew and a failure to take action in the minutes leading to the collision, according to two defense officials.
"They did nothing until the last second," one official said. "A slew of things went wrong." A second official said the crash "will wind up being our (the US Navy's) fault."