Posted on 03/10/2018 10:52:29 AM PST by Retain Mike
From the Report:
In the pre-dawn hours of 21 August 2017, the Liberian-registered Alnic MC and the US Naval vessel USS John S McCain collided in the westbound lane of the Singapore Strait, in Singapore territorial waters about 4.6 nautical miles (nm) from Horsburgh Lighthouse. The collision resulted in 10 fatalities on the USS John S McCain.
The safety investigation determined that the USS John S McCain made a sudden turn to Port (left) into the path of Alnic MC because of a series of missteps that took place after propulsion controls were transferred. When the Bridge team of Alnic MC saw the USS John S McCain turning, it presumed that the USS John S McCain would be able to safely pass ahead. The collision happened within three minutes of the USS John S McCain turning to Port, and the actions taken by Alnic MC were insufficient to avoid the collision.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.usni.org ...
The news reports I found don’t go beyond the first page summary and I found none with a hot button to get the report. The 35-page report was a good read, but then I was a Navy ship driver. I also didn’t see the report had been posted before.
A few quick observations are:
As OOD I kept eyes on the ocean around us and let the JO and CIC consult the radar. They seemed too interested in the electronics.
The McCain was passing ships to port at about one-half standard distance and at 20 knots. Yet the radar screen shots all show they are on the left side of the channel with plenty of room to starboard.
The report says the McCain people did not anticipate an emergency situation in a high traffic area? We always anticipated everything would go to hell at the worst of times, which of course made our watches at those times really intense.
Even though the tanker considered the maneuver of the McCain across its bow dangerous they only slowed instead of backing. The McCain’s turn to port occurred before the steering casualty. The ship was already to the far left of the southwest inbound channel, so I would have decided they were out control or out of their minds.
I checked a map and they were still about 15 miles from the southern harbor entrance and they intended to set special sea and anchor detail in about 45 minutes after when the collision occurred. That does seem about right to me. Our ship got pretty close to Yokosuka and I had a lot of ships around me before we brought the bridge team up.
Sudden turn to port? (left for you landlubbers)
As a young OOD I was taught that two ships can race for the same spot in the ocean. One can win and the other lose. If they TIE they both lose.
Looks like JSM tied.
So the helm reported loss of steering control as the ship started to drift to port, so they transferred steering to the aft emergency steering position, which promptly, instead of returning the ship to course, made a 33 degree left turn into the path of the tanker to test to see whether they had control. (Paragraphs 1.6.10 - 1.6.14, pp 19-20.)
So the bridge told the aft position to take over steering, but didn’t tell them where to steer the ship or where the other traffic was. The lookout had issued a warning (1.6.13)
Clearly the fault of the XO on the bridge of the McCain.
Thanks for posting the link to the report.
Our military has been down graded right alongside our schools systems, as planned.
ping
I agree on that. My favorite source on that subject is U.S. Defense Watch.
Full and complete reports on ship collisions can be done before a city can determine if a Somali cop murdered a woman in a dark alley nearly a year ago in Minneapolis.
Sounds like the ship is following it’s name sakes moves.
Wow, this is a pretty damning report. I wonder why they lost steering, and why they made such a sharp turn. That part doesn’t add up.
Why also did the MC not appear on JSM radar, and vice versa?
Interesting, very interesting.
I believe the Captain was on the Bridge at the time.
We’re on it. couldn’t remember how to type your FRName correctly, or you would have been in on the ping...
...by shooting his firearm across in front of the face of his American partner...
(Can you say, "First rate eyewitness -- except he's a copunion drone"...?)
When will you numbskulls do your homework and learn that the vessel was named for his ancestors (Admirals)?
Prolonged, stuck-on-stupid crap like that reflects very badly on all the rest of FR. No excuse...
Shape up.
Thanks.
Apparently both the CO (Paragraph 1.6.3) and the XO (1.6.5) were on the bridge at the time.
And incredibly even the partner was not talking if I understand it correctly. I suspect this murderer cop has been on paid vacation since last summer or shuffling papers in a back room somewhere. Or the MPD quietly slipped him back onto duty hoping no one would notice. Has the woman’s family filed any sort of lawsuit? What in the world is going on???
Beats me! If you're in the Midwest, you're closer to it than I am, here in Texas... '-)
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