U.S.S. John McCain was involved in a collision on Sunday morning in the Straits of Malacca. 10 sailors missing, 5 missing. The Straights of Malacca is very narrow and treacherous to transit. The ship collided with a Liberian registered oil and gas tanker, sustaining damage to the port fantail.
"There are no winners in war, only bigger losers"
If you see me or hear me coming, I'm not doing my job.
WHO is driving these boats? Is this the "new" military?
Common sense is so rare these days, it should be re-classified as a super power.
Just saw photos of damage. The McCain was hit in the aft Port (left) quarter. Looks like the bulb on the bow of the tanker ship caused the damage. The hull was breached and several compartments flooded. Looks like the DC (damage control) team did their job.The incident occurred about 0545 on Sunday , local time. Sunrise was at 0645 local time. This would explain why 10 sailors are missing.
I've passed through the Straights of Malacca twice. It is a busy and narrow shipping lane. Navigating it has special challenges, especially at night. Which calls for extra lookouts. In addition to commercial traffic, local's use it and everything from dugout canoes to supertankers can be found transiting the area.
This is the fourth incident of a U.S. Naval vessel from the 7th fleet sustaining damage in the past 8 months. 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.
Prayers go out to the families of the injured and missing crew members of the McCain.
"There are no winners in war, only bigger losers"
If you see me or hear me coming, I'm not doing my job.
Ak, Might be Obama's training lapses coming back to bite the crews. Strange though that all 4 of those from the same fleet!
Originally Posted by bacpacker
My concern is, these ships are as high tech as it gets. How in the hell do they not see the ship approaching? These things can monitor a target hundreds of miles out, and they missed a boat over 1/4 mile long in a confined strait? Makes me wonder how they'd do against a rowboat full of explosives.
Common sense is so rare these days, it should be re-classified as a super power.
Yes, these ships are full of high tech, but all that tech will not overcome human error. There is no auto pilot, sealane departure warning, auto slowing, or auto collision avoidance. Some one screwed the pooch, and until an investigation is held, we won't know who it was.
"There are no winners in war, only bigger losers"
If you see me or hear me coming, I'm not doing my job.
First off let me say that I'm nowhere near knowing anything about rules of seafaring vessels.
After reading all post by more qualified ants I have a question.
I thought about the cyber theory and possible shorter training because of budget cuts that was brought up. Then my old gray matter started wondering if maybe it could be an inside job by a mole or moles. Just seems strange having this many incidents lately.
Okay back to my painting by numbers.
It would take a number of moles all on watch at the same time to pull off. When a ship is underway (at sea), there are no less then 5 people on the bridge handling the ship. The OOD (Officer of the Deck) is primarily in charge, JOOD, BMOW (Boatswain's mate of the watch)he steers the ship and sends speed changes to the engine room, QMOW (Quatermaster of the watch) he plots the course and recommends course changes and keeps the underway log, and the messenger of the watch, he sends and receives messages from other areas of the ship and the lookouts and informs the bridge of these messages. On a destroyer the only time this changes is when the ship is prosecuting a sonar contact, then the ship is under the control of the sonar supervisor, who recommends course and speed changes to keep in contact with the submarine they are prosecuting. There are usually two radar repeaters or radar scopes for the bridge team to look at and track surface contacts.
My gut says human error or lack of training. In the case of the grounding in Tokyo Bay either someone miss read the chart, or plotted the course wrong. The three collisions are another matter, the Fitzgerald, because the CO, XO, and CMC were relieved of duty, indicates a failure in the command ability to lead. Every enlisted man and woman who has ever served has met at least one officer in whom they had no confidence in their ability.
"There are no winners in war, only bigger losers"
If you see me or hear me coming, I'm not doing my job.
Ding Ding Ding I think we may have a winner! Had the same thoughts. Sight is the critical thing even at night ships (tankers) use running lights.
The tallest oak in the forest was once just a nut who held its ground.
Be decisive. Right or Wrong, make a decision. The road of life is paved with flat squirrels who could not make a decision.
In the wake of the recent group of naval mishaps in the Pacific, Commander 7th Fleet has been relieved of command.
"There are no winners in war, only bigger losers"
If you see me or hear me coming, I'm not doing my job.
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