Posted on 03/05/2019 5:34:46 PM PST by artichokegrower
A little after 1:30 a.m. on June 17, 2017, Alexander Vaughan tumbled from his bunk onto the floor of his sleeping quarters on board the Navy destroyer USS Fitzgerald. The shock of cold, salty water snapped him awake. He struggled to his feet and felt a torrent rushing past his thighs.
Around him, sailors were screaming. “Water on deck. Water on deck!” Vaughan fumbled for his black plastic glasses and strained to see through the darkness of the windowless compartment.
(Excerpt) Read more at features.propublica.org ...
“Get out, get out,” he shouted as men surged toward him through the rising water.
An incredible story of heroism
He coulda yelled “Girls on watch! Girls on watch!’
But that would have been SJW bad, right?
For those of, us who served in the Navy, had relatives who served and those who will serve.
This is an incredible documentation of what happened and what the possible causes were.
Plan to spend 30 minutes reading this incredible report of bravery, skill and pure incompetence mixed together.
https://features.propublica.org/navy-accidents/uss-fitzgerald-destroyer-crash-crystal/
“The 26-year-old officer of the deck, who was in charge of the destroyer at the time of the crash, had navigated the route only once before in daylight. In a panic, she ordered the Fitzgerald to turn directly into the path of the Crystal.”
She, the CO and XO, OPS and Nav should all burn for this. They are solely responsible.
Except maybe the man who chose the CO/XO team.
The story of the Fitzgerald shows further the need for President Trump after 44 let the military slip so much. Diversity did not help it as much as repairs and ship’s training would have.
Who the hell puts a young girl OOD on duty to navigate the Sea of Japan at night?
Nobody but the stupid. And irresponsible.
Wow. What an article. I have been to sea on that class of destroyer in 2012. I spent three weeks at sea and I could feel every detail written in this article. I can’t attest to the truth of it all but the research and writing are spot on. God bless the crew that had to go through this.
USN ping
“A young officer scribbled algebraic equations in a notebook to figure out how to right the listing vessel. The crew bailed out the ship with buckets after pumps failed. As the Fitzgerald struggled to return to port, its navigational displays failed and backup batteries ran out. The ship’s navigator used a handheld commercial GPS unit and paper charts to guide the ship home.”
All of them stupidly irresponsible.
Damage Control is the very first training priority. All equipment validated weekly in Planned Maintenance.
Just how many officers and chiefs were negligent here?
Charge them all with negligent homicide.
Dude did you read the article? The actions after the crash to keep that ship from sinking were nothing short of heroic. Those algebra notations were used by the damage control officer to keep the frigging ship from sinking. When stuff failed they resorted to mark1 bucket line to,again, keep the ship afloat. As for PMS, to cite that as the end all protector of systems is so naive and yes, I have filled out my share of the required maintenance logs. The article clearly states they had unattended system failures that didn’t get repaired but the op tempo was paramount. Been there done that. Yes, critical failures by many in chain of command but to hold them criminally responsible is quite another thing. I guess one has to have gone through collisions and in my case underwater groundings to appreciate the difference between those who caused it and those who fixed it and saved the ship. That article is a celebration of heroic kids and adults who, in the moment it mattered stood up and saved their shipmates and ship.
Yes, the actions taken after collision were heroic.
But the fact the DC pumps didn’t work was negligence.
By asking the simple question: When was it discovered and documented they did not work?...you will know who is responsible.
I do not believe ComSeventhFleet would order a ship to sea with bad pumps. I will never believe that. That vessel is not ready, by any and every definition.
And I have quite a bit of time at sea in Pacflt.
“Now they faced a choice. Naval training demanded that they seal the escape hatch to prevent water from flooding the rest of the ship. But they knew that bolting it down would consign any sailors still alive to death.
Vaughan and Tapia hesitated. They agreed to wait a few seconds more for survivors. Tapia leaned down into the vanishing inches of air left in Berthing 2.
“Come to the sound of my voice,” he shouted.”
What a decision these two young sailors had to make.
Sorry I was a bit pointed in my post to you. No offense intended. I will be reading the article again but it sure read like the DC pumps failed as a result of the crash not before sailing. I could be wrong. But I too was part of the 7th fleet but I think we can both admit it was a different generation than today.
I just can see the faces on my shipmates as we went through similar but not as catatstrophic accidents. That article nearly brought tears to my eyes in the way it was written coupled with things I have been through and I will repeat, god bless that crew who went through what they did. This old sailor salutes you.
Back in the day, when I was working for the Navy (civilian) they did D-SOTs... Daily Systems Operational Tests. Critical systems (eg. missile systems etc.) were tested every single day. If they’re still doing anything like that they would have known they had some significant deficiencies that increased risk in continuing to operate the ship. Who ever okay’d that - said go anyway - they bear a lot of responsibility.
Billion dollar ships have been rendered useless rather easily from the Cole to Fitzgerald by idiots in the CIC.
No argument. I just counted it up and this year is 40 years working in, for, around and with the USN and allied navies around the world. I think I want to do 10 more years so I can say I gave 50 years in the job I love for some of the best people I have ever met, the Navy crew.
Thank you for posting — very informative article
This article was published on 6 Feb. A companion article about the McCain and the leadership in the Navy was published recently. Both are excellent and are damning of the Navy, 7th Fleet, USS Fitzgerald, maintenance and training.
The OD has already been Court Martialed, she pled guilty and remains on active duty. The Skipper awaits his Court Martial, the outcome is clear. COMMSEVENTHFLT was relieved. My uncle, a tin can sailor in the Pacific from 1940 to 1945, was the torpedo officer of the USS John D. Ford, a four stacker at the Battle of Balikpapan in Jan 1942, the first surface battle for the U.S. Navy since the Spanish American War. He commanded 4 ships during his career, two in combat. He would never have slept in his main cabin at sea, only in his sea cabin adjacent off the bridge. He would be shocked by all of this.
I think you are misconstruing the info.
IIRC, the pumps didn't work, but that was due to HAVING JUST BEEN RAMMED BY A SUPERTANKER.
So, you would be correct not to believe they pumps didn't work before leaving dock.
However, they were in dock for repairs. They were given orders to leave before repairs were done. Parts of the radar/comm gear didn't work. They had to scavenge parts from one system to keep another working. They were short on crew. The crew was inexperienced. The crew was massively overworked.
That is the 'condition' of the ship that the ComSeventhFleet ordered out to sea.
Right there with you on that. There is no excuse for that and the articles title is right on.... a warship doomed its own Navy. Due to my own biases I split the article into that crap that leadership set in place and the actions of the crew after it happened.
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