The US and Japan launched a major search operation to find seven missing American sailors on June 17 after their navy destroyer collided with a container ship, crushing the side of the military vessel. The U.S. Navy continues to say the collision happened at 2:20 a.m. Bryce Benson, should have been awakened and summoned to the bridge to ensure a safe passage long before the ships could come near each other. So far know one really knows what happened to cause the collision and why it was not avoided.
A delay in reporting the collision is under investigation.
"Certainly one of the conclusions one has to consider that this was a purposeful act to ram the Fitzgerald", observes James "Ace" Lyons, who commanded the Pacific Fleet during the 1980s.
It's important to understand that the area in which the collision took place-off the coast of Japan, south of Yokosuka Naval Base and Sagami Bay, a gateway to maritime traffic headed for Tokyo-is immensely busy with shipping traffic.
The collision was deadly for the crew of the destroyer as seven sailors were killed and other crew members were injured.
Preliminary analysis indicates the collision occurred where the ship's communication nodes are housed and the official said the crew had to resort to using satellite based cell phones to communicate both on board and back to shore.
A key Republican senator has 'serious concerns' about the Senate's healthcare bill
Trump didn't indicate what types of changes may be in store, but affirmed that he had described a US House-passed bill as "mean". Famous last words, right? "We don't have too much of a choice because the alternative is the dead carcass of Obamacare".
Perhaps the most offensive articles I have read contain a willingness to impugn Fitzgerald's commanding officer while giving an apparent free pass to the master of Crystal.
"We thank our Japanese partners for their assistance", he said in a statement after the collision. The merchant ship's bow smashed into the destroyer's starboard side just aft of the bridge. Why did it take the destroyer almost an hour to get the first report out? But a number of Navy veterans who joined a lively online debate said that even the most distracted performance by the Crystal's crew could not justify or explain the Fitzgerald's failure to get out its way.
He also served as executive officer of the Navy Nuclear Power Training Unit in Charleston, S.C., as the Navy Federal Executive Fellow at the George Washington University Elliot School of International Affairs. He said route decisions are up to the captains.
"He said, 'If my kids die, I'm going to die, ' " the uncle said, adding, "He could have walked away and been safe".
The USS Fitzgerald was taking on water and officers ordered the bulkheads closed while Fire Controlman 1st Class Gary Leo Rehm Jr., was still under water, Stanley Rehm told WKYC.
Retired Navy Adm. James Stavridis, who was once the captain of the Fitzgerald's sister ship, the USS Barry, said in an email that as a general rule, a flooded area would never be sealed without "knowing that all of your shipmates had escaped".
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