A sudden turn made by a US destroyer lead to a collision with a commercial vessel that killed 10 American sailors, an investigation by Singaporean authorities has concluded.
The incident on August 21 was one of several such collisions last year, which tarnished the reputation of the US Navy. The guided-missile destroyer USS ‘John S McCain’ (DDG-56) collided with a Liberian-flagged merchant ship in the Singapore Strait.
A report released on Thursday by the Singapore’s Ministry of Transport’s (MOT) Transport Safety Investigation Bureau (TSIB) said the American warship “made a sudden turn to the left into the path of [the merchant vessel, ‘Alnic MC’] because of a series of missteps that took place after propulsion controls were transferred.”
The US Navy’s internal report last November arrived at similar conclusions, blaming the incident on avoidable navigational errors made by the destroyer’s crew.
The incident that occurred near Singapore last August happened just two months after a similar collision involving the destroyer’s sister ship, USS ‘Fitzgerald,’ near the Japanese capital Tokyo. On June 17, she collided with a container carrier, resulting in the deaths of seven sailors. This case was also blamed on lapses of the warship’s bridge team.
seems they don’t want to admit their systems can be commandeered anywhere anytime ……similar to the BUAP
You’ve got to be a complete moron if you think this was an accident and this is the 4th time this has happened. You’ve got the most advanced radars and computers on those Navy ships and if you follow the paths of the gps system there is no way in hell this was an accident like I said earlier for the fourth time
Having unqualified commanders doesn’t help either, these commanders use cargo ships pretending they are the enemy, and maneuver around them in training, coming dangerously close at times practicing defensive maneuvers, sometimes without telling the captain of the other ship what the hell is going on.
Been going on for years, admirals green lighting this bullshit. Lax generals worrying about their golf swing…
Inexperienced commanders use civilian vessels as play things, making blunders, killing people.