A U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyer collided with a tanker early Monday in waters east of Singapore and the Straits of Malacca, and at least 10 sailors are missing.
The Navy said five others were hurt.
The USS John S. McCain sustained damage on its port side aft, or left rear, from the collision with the Alnic MC that happened at 5:24 a.m., the Navy’s 7th Fleet said.
It is the second collision involving a ship from the Navy’s 7th Fleet in the Pacific in two months. Seven sailors died in June when the USS Fitzgerald and a container ship hit each other in waters off Japan.
The Fitzgerald’s captain was relieved of command and other sailors were being punished after the Navy found poor seamanship and flaws in keeping watch contributed to the collision, the Navy announced last week. An investigation into how and why the Fitzgerald collided with the other ship was not finished, but enough details were known to take those actions, the Navy said.
The Japan-based 7th Fleet said the McCain was heading to Singapore for a routine port visit.
The ship is based at the fleet’s homeport of Yokosuka, Japan. It was commissioned in 1994 and has a crew of 23 officers, 24 chief petty officers and 291 enlisted sailors, according the Navy’s website.
The Alnic MC is a 600-foot oil and chemical tanker.
(AP)
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7 Responses
Waiting for the declassified version of both these stories. Maybe I watch too much netflix (no TV in MY house) but i would put a crisp George Washington on these being deliberate ramming attacks.
You cant seriously believe these bazillion dollar ships can just collide with another ship… #FakeNews
You would think with all the radar and warning systems they would have known that a ship was too close for comfort. Maybe some one was not paying attention?
This must be that either North Korea, China or Russia are working overtime to make US Navy look so so stupid!
Such wise , experienced naval personnel commenting on this site. It’s refreshing.
=Sigh!=
im sure this incident is somehow a divine message being sent to the senator. He didn’t get the message from the illness so now his namesake boat took a hit. I’m sure people here will disagree with me but that’s just a reflection of their understanding of how Hashem operates and interacts with the world.
Is a foreign power jamming the radar and other systems that enable US Navy crews to control their ships? The US has jammed Iran’s nuclear facilities and North Korea’s missles, and we are not the only nation with clever computer guys.
2929,
These warships have the latest radar technology and should have personnel on deck at all times watching for any unusual activity. The fact that the huge tanker was not warned off by some shots from the destroyer point to a total breakdown of vigilance on the destroyer’s part. The captain of this destroyer will certainly be fired just as the captain of the first ship that had this problem was. This is a sever embarrasment for the navy and the upper brass that was focused on transgender garbage and other such ridiculous issues should be wary of being replaced by real soldiers.