Back in Yokosuka, divers will inspect the damage and develop a plan for repairs, the Navy said.
Investigators now face trying to determine how a sophisticated USA warship collided with a container ship four times its size. Seven Navy sailors are missing an.
The guided missile destroyer USS Fitzgerald returns to Yokosuka, Japan, after its collision Saturday.
Most of the more than 200 sailors aboard would have been asleep in their berths during the pre-dawn crash.
"All of our thoughts and prayers are with the Fitzgerald crew and their families". "We thank our Japanese partners for their assistance". It was expected to dock at a Tokyo Bay port around 4:30 p.m. local time, officials said after the wreck, adding that the container ship was operating under charter to a Japanese shipping company.
The destroyer USS Dewey helped stabilize the USS Fitzgerald after it collided with the Philippine-flagged container ship, and then joined other American and Japanese vessels and aircraft searching for the missing crew members.
Marine traffic records for the USS Fitzgerald are not publicly available.
"This has been a hard day", Aucoin said, adding that the search for missing shipmates would continue now that the vessel was back in Yokosuka. Two Japanese coast guard cutters with helicopters were helping.
The statement hinted that the missing sailors could be trapped in the damaged area of the destroyer. The ship was flanked by two tug boats that had helped it get back to port, and crew members could been seen on deck, waiting to disembark.
In May, the US Navy's USS Lake Champlain collided with a South Korean fishing vessel but both ships were able to operate under their own power. None of the crew on board the ACX Crystal were injured, the AP reported. Three, including the captain, have been injured.
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Japan's Kyodo news agency said neither ship was in danger of sinking but that there was information some crew may have gone overboard.
It wasn't clear what caused the crash.
The collision badly damaged Fitzgerald's forward starboard side above and below the water line, causing significant damage and associated flooding to two berthing spaces, a machinery space, and the radio room.
The Navy's 7th Fleet reported the developments in an update on the stricken ship that was nearing the port of Yokosuka in Japan.
The search for the seven sailors is continuing Saturday.
Benson, the Fitzgerald's commander, was new to the position, having taken command of the vessel May 13 after serving as the ship's executive officer, or second in command, since November 2015, the Navy said last month.
Rita Schrimsher of Athens, Alabama, tweeted: "Just heard the sweetest voice and saw a wonderful face".
She says she spoke on Facetime with her 23-year-old grandson Jackson Schrimsher.
She didn't say how many were found.
The search continues for the seven sailors missing.
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