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| U.S. Navy admiral: USS John S. McCain, oil tanker collision may have been intentional |
| 2017-08-23 |
| [Wash Times] Top Navy leaders are refusing to rule out the possibility that a collision between an U.S. destroyer and an oil tanker in the Pacific may have been intentional, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson said Monday. The incident, which occurred early Monday morning in Southeast Asian waters, resulted in 10 American sailors lost at sea and "significant damage" to the USS John S. McCain, an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer attached to the Navy’s Seventh Fleet, according to a Navy statement. Search and rescue operations by the U.S., Indonesian, Singaporean and Malayan navies remained underway Monday night for the missing sailors, and four other U.S. sailors were reportedly evacuated from the USS McCain to medical facilities in Singapore. The Pentagon initiated a two-day pause in all Navy operations worldwide, beginning Monday, as a result of the incident. Adm. Richardson, who briefed reporters at the Pentagon, described the action as a "operational pause in the near term" to allow for an overall review of "the [operational] fundamentals at the unit and team level." He also said the sea service was initiating two major fleetwide inquiries into the incident, which is the second midsea collision in two months between American warships attached to Seventh Fleet and commercial vessels traversing international waters in the Pacific. |
| Posted by:Besoeker |
| #13 Veered to the left Perhaps the OD turned to Port. |
| Posted by: Skidmark 2017-08-23 20:18 |
| #12 well, it IS the USS McCain. Veered to the left |
| Posted by: Frank G 2017-08-23 18:19 |
| #11 Isn't a naval destroyer a little more maneuverable than an oil tanker? |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2017-08-23 17:44 |
| #10 Do commercial ships have a 'black box' that shows all steering instructions and such for after-action reports? I'd also be curious to the nationality/religion and other facts about he helmsman of the tanker. Just to rule that line of inquiry out quickly of course. |
| Posted by: rjschwarz 2017-08-23 16:04 |
| #9 Could it be that in this case, since the tanker was the burdened vessel (obliged to give way) and the McCain was the privileged vessel ( in normal circumstances obliged to remain on course) that the collision involved waiting too long on the McCain to realize that the tanker wasn't going to follow the rules. IN the last case, and in other reporting, foreign flag vessels late at night seem to have their vessels under GPS/Nav systems control with no competent officers awake or on the bridge, so the computer didn't know it was obliged to give way, and the McCain waited too long? Not a ship driver {my last vessel command was a 29ft Ericson sloop in Newport Beach, and that a long time ago.) |
| Posted by: NoMoreBS 2017-08-23 14:17 |
| #8 Wouldn't it be nice if the Admiral gave some indication about whether the suspected intensionality was on the part of the oil tanker, or on the part of some spontaneously jihadist death-eater on the USS McCain? Or - some Croatian/Roumanian/North Korean/Russian hackers? |
| Posted by: Lone Ranger 2017-08-23 13:15 |
| #7 Saw it here first: Russian Navy reconnaissance ship sinks after collision in Black Sea |
| Posted by: Skidmark 2017-08-23 11:08 |
| #6 Maybe next time the tanker gets sunk before it gets too close. |
| Posted by: Abu Uluque 2017-08-23 09:58 |
| #5 No. The supertanker sneaked up on the destroyer, suddenly accelerated to ramming speed and crashed into it. |
| Posted by: gorb 2017-08-23 09:56 |
| #4 Yes the incompetent USN captain rammed into the much larger and unwieldy supertanker. |
| Posted by: Bright Pebbles 2017-08-23 09:26 |
| #3 “Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy action” - Ian Fleming |
| Posted by: PBMcL 2017-08-23 09:15 |
| #2 The question I ask is, "What nations would benefit from having a diminished US naval presence in the Pacific?" The answer also seems to be the same nations that have a history of hacking and sabotaging US defense networks and material. |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2017-08-23 08:44 |
| #1 What we know is that both USN ships were Aegis carriers. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2017-08-23 07:35 |