Update:10 Missing After USS John McCain Collides With Merchant Ship; Search Underway

[Purveyor]

Last edited Sun Aug 20, 2017, 09:49 PM - Edit history (2)

Source: ABC News

A Navy guided-missile destroyer, the USS John S. McCain, collided with a commercial vessel east of Singapore early Monday morning local time, the Navy said.

There were 10 sailors missing and five injured, the Navy said.

The collision with the merchant ship Alnic MC occurred east of the Straits of Malacca and Singapore at 6:24 a.m. Japan Standard Time, as the McCain was on its way for a routine port visit in Singapore, the Navy said.

"Initial reports indicate John S. McCain sustained damage to her port side aft," the Navy said, adding that a search and rescue mission was already underway.

Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/US/uss-john-mccain-collides-merchant-ship-singapore-search/story?id=49327836

---

From CNN International.

The Navy's 7th Fleet said the USS John S. McCain collided with the merchant vessel Alnic MC while the destroyer was making its way to a port visit in Singapore. The collision was reported at 5:24 am local time, according to the Navy statement.

A Navy official told CNN the McCain was fighting flooding in several places and that it had limited propulsion and electrical power. The Navy said the McCain was steaming under its own power to port.

[CentralMass]

1. What is going on with these collisions ?

[Purveyor]

4. Something is seriously fucked up. Jesus Christ we have cars equipped to slam on the brakes if one

is about to hit something but a billion dollar floating bathtub can't avoid a open water collision...

Yeah, we should sent more young lives to fight in Afghanistan under the command of this bullshit military...indeed.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

53. Let's not jump to the conclusion that the US ship was at fault. Or do you have top secret info?

[Purveyor]

67. How could the US ship not be at fault. It's there fucking job to stay on course and...oh

void colliding with a big assed oil tanker.

Spare me the bullshit.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

72. Use your imagination. Even so, there are more ways for things to go wrong than we can imagine.

Something DID go wrong.

Ships do not turn on a dime.

Perhaps the merchant ship said they'd change course one way and then at the last minute changed another way, too late for the US ship.

There are many ways this could have happened without fault of the US ship.

[Purveyor]

75. No.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

76. Clearly there are more ways for things to go wrong than you can imagine.

Especially if you refuse to use it, while you are waiting for real information as to the actual cause.

[Purveyor]

77. Indeed, an incompetent crew asleep at the helm... nt.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

79. Certainly a possibility. You do not have special information to know more than "possibly". nt

[Purveyor]

82. We shall see in due time won't we... nt

[Bernardo de La Paz]

85. That's exactly what I advised in post 53 that you objected to up this subthread. . . nt

[wolfie001]

113. Commander and anyone else responsible will be relieved of duty

That's a fact. Happens somewhat often and the board of inquiry almost 100% of the time holds the bridge personnel and Commander at fault.

[n2doc]

102. Oil tankers don't do 'last minute changes'

Something about momentum. They have an enormous amount. And the destroyer has an enormous amount of engine thrust available. That's what they are made for-maneuverability.

[LanternWaste]

117. Hence, it's not the job of the tanker to stay on course and... of, avoid (ed.) colliding with a DDG?

Hence, it's not the job of the tanker to stay on course and... of, avoid (ed.) colliding with a DDG possessing a smaller ass?

Or maybe it's both of their jobs, regardless of your spares you request?

[George II]

70. Cars stop based on the concept of friction. Ships? Want to advance a theory?

[snooper2]

114. LOL

Maybe some floating gravel for traction

[Warpy]

127. That doesn't work in water. That's why there are lane rules for ships within visual contact

that also apply to smaller craft.

These collisions have been in calm seas in good weather. This one was barely aft of dead center, meaning no evasive action was taken by either ship.

I think they're all relying too heavily on GPS and not bothering to look up and notice if there's something big coming their way. There is no reason this should have happened. Both captains are definitely at fault.

[GetRidOfThem]

51. they are going into the world's busiest shipping channels...

...with their AIS systems turned off, in effect cloaked to all but conventional radar.

The Mallaca Straights is the busiest shipping channel in the world. If they had their AIS turned on and we're not monitoring it, the other ship would have have seen them, given an alert crew on her side. Not only was the John McCain not looking at their AIS returns, they had the system turned off! <speculation here on my part...>

[humbled_opinion]

59. Fake President responds...

"That's too bad"

WTF

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/navy-destroyer-uss-john-s-mccain-collides-merchant-ship-east-n794386

[AllyCat]

69. That's too bad???

That's all that horrible man can say?

[Bernardo de La Paz]

78. Trump (Republican) hates Sen. McCain so much he dislikes the ship named after his father & gfather.

[Kablooie]

94. He responds as if he has no connection and read it in the news.

He still doesn't understand what the job of commander and chief is.

[Zoonart]

2. That makes two unexplained naval "collisions".

What's that Ian Fleming said about coincidence?

[LiberalArkie]

8. Some one has figured out how to blind our ships radar.

[Zoonart]

17. "Three times is enemy action."

That's the end of the quote.
Once is happenstance, Twice is coincidence, Three times is enemy action.

[lastlib]

31. Wisconsin (1); Michigan (2); Pennsylvania (3)........

yep, enemy action....... BATTLE STATIONS, everyone!!

[Baconator]

131. Let's keep the hyperbole to a minimum shall we?

[LanternWaste]

118. In what specific time period and over how large an area?

"Three times is enemy action..."

In what specific time period and over how large an area?

[LiberalArkie]

121. Another way of looking at it is: How many other shipping lines have had this many avoidable

collisions in this short of a time period. It just does not happen with the modern radars unless

[gladium et scutum]

18. Ships have sailed the oceans of the world

for a thousand years without radar. A set of 7x50 binoculars and a set of eyes can be more valuable in preventing a collision at sea than a radar.

[dalton99a]

35. +1

[politicat]

128. We may be at the limits of physics, though. There were 50 cargo/tankers in that 10 NM site.

At the time of collision. Averaging 40K tons displacement and 300 meters long. Ships that size take miles to stop, and that's a very crowded space.

I'm not excusing anything - my bet is on spoofed/pwned GPS at this point, and if I'm right, this is Very Bad - but cargo/container/tanker/bulk carriers aren't little. They're enormous even on the scale of the carriers I grew up with, and I grew up on Naval bases in the 1980s. Top eyes are less useful when a ship doesn't have 220 feet of mast, and is the size of three football fields.

But the Navy also has a retention problem. Which means everyone is tired, everyone is overworked, and morale is low, because they're dealing with some seriously rotten shit in the Pac fleet.

[certainot]

73. remote control - hacking

years ago, maybe 80s, german aviation minister rejected the new american made navcoms for jets because they could be remote controlled

just sayin

[Bernardo de La Paz]

81. I'm 99.9% sure that is NOT the case. :eyes:

[Tyrs WolfDaemon]

97. Could they have been jammed?

It better not have been Raspberry! We all know who would Raspberry jam a radar.

Radar Technician: Wait, sir! The radar, sir! It appears to be... [Jam starts flowing through the computer screen] jammed!

Dark Helmet: Jammed... [Examines the jam and tastes it] Raspberry. There's only one man... [Sandurz gets out of the way of the approaching camera] ...who would dare give me the raspberry! [Pulls his mask down] Lone Starr! [Walks into the camera and collapses]

http://www.moviequotedb.com/movies/spaceballs/quote_22070.html

(This was first thought that popped in my head when I saw the 'blind our ship's radar')

[CentralMass]

129. "May the Schwartz be with you ."

[Iggo]

10. Not sure. But Robert Ludlum's Jason Bourne would say, "Coincidence is rarely a factor."

[Purveyor]

15. I don't believe in them...coincidences. nt

[TomVilmer]

124. "Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity"

As Hanlon's Razor tells about such speculations...

[CincyDem]

3. Straights of Malacca - 15 million bbl/day of oil transport...

...one of the most important shipping lanes for oil in the world (behind Hormuz at 17mbbl/day) and the biggest for China. Wonder if this has anything to do with us putting pressure on the Chinese.

And yes - it was a Liberian flagged oil tanker. The Alnic MC...183 meters long. Tough to miss unless the rules of "chicken" have been changed.

[MojoWrkn]

5. What are they searching for? Rescuing what?

[Purveyor]

7. Sounds worse that being reported like most dire incidents. Prayers for our men and women aboard. nt

[VermontKevin]

9. Sailors.

[MojoWrkn]

11. Why not say however men were overboard/lost at sea? I feel like the government is trying to hide

something! Very suspicious especially with the CinC we have now!

[VermontKevin]

14. I'd calm down and let the professionals do their job. We will know everything soon enough.

[MojoWrkn]

20. Thank for being patronizing, Kevin. I am calm but I think we are entitled

to know what's really going on! If men went overboard due to the collision, just say so!

[Bernardo de La Paz]

57. Maybe they don't know if they went overboard or are underwater inside the ship.

This is not a nefarious plot of Trumpian proportions to keep you in the dark.

[VermontKevin]

109. Now we know. We didn't save them with outcry.

[Raine1967]

19. Why, you ask? Because they don't know. It's ongoing.

The government isn't hiding anything. This is from ABC news and the situation is ongoing.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

55. Have you read the actual Naval release? I think you are reading the ABC paraphrase & jumping to

... ridiculous conclusions.

Certainly ABC News credits you with enough intellect that when 10 sailors are missing and there is a "search and rescue operation", that they are searching for the missing sailors.

government is trying to hide something!

[sarisataka]

63. Bigfoot...

[democratisphere]

6. How the hell does this continue to happen?

Is everyone on board asleep at the "switch"?

[Raine1967]

23. We have an Incumbant Sec of the Navy (as of August 3, 2017)

prior to that was had Sean Stackly.

here is the current Sec of the Navy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_V._Spencer

[Cryptoad]

30. is he the one that owned a

Fastfood Hamburger Chain???????

[IronLionZion]

66. A long career on Wall St. naturally prepares someone to lead the Navy

but I doubt he's the problem here.

[JI7]

12. Isn't there some job that still hasn't been filled which is related to this ?

[EX500rider]

79. You mean like bow watch and bridge watch?

[onecaliberal]

13. What the heck

[lordsummerisle]

16. I'm sure the eclipse is involved somehow...n/t

[jpak]

21. Who needs China or North Korea to take out our Arleigh Burkes?

Merchant vessels and bad seamanship seem to be working well.

[Yonnie3]

22. Update from navy

http://www.c7f.navy.mil/Media/News/Display/Article/1283874/uss-john-s-mccain-collides-with-merchant-ship-near-strait-of-malacca-update-912/

SOUTH CHINA SEA - The guided-missile destroyer USS John S. McCain (DDG 56) was involved in a collision with the merchant vessel Alnic MC while underway east of the Straits of Malacca and Singapore on Aug. 21.

The collision was reported at 6:24 a.m. Japan Standard Time, while the ship was transiting to a routine port visit in Singapore.

The ship is currently sailing under its own power and heading to port.

Search and rescue efforts are underway in coordination with local authorities. In addition to tug boats out of Singapore, the Republic of Singapore Navy ship RSS Gallant (97), RSN helicopters and Police Coast Guard vessel Basking Shark (55) are currently in the area to render assistance.

MV-22s and SH-60s from USS America are also responding.

Initial reports indicate John S. McCain sustained damage to her port side aft. The extent of damage and personnel injuries is being determined. The incident will be investigated.

[yuiyoshida]

24. Again?

Damn

[7wo7rees]

25. Simply incompetence.... Maybe relying too much on

Auto pilot systems?

[jberryhill]

26. Personally, I like the ones that don't crash, okay?

[NightWatcher]

27. Are the Russians screwing with GPS?

[Purveyor]

28. And putting blinders on the crew at the helm? Sneaky bastards, they...

[NightWatcher]

34. So much of the "driving" is done by autopilot and gyroscope these days

I used to man a bridge watch and was often the only person on the bridge for minutes at a time. And I wasn't a mariner but an environmental observer.

I'm getting my captain's license now, finally.

[jpak]

37. Navigation at night in crowded shipping channels is a fucking nightmare

You have to be on your toes all the time.

It sucks

[NightWatcher]

40. Ever been in the Houston shipping channel?

Or passed so close on the 1's to another ship that you thought your sterns were going to run?

I've been in many near misses in the Mobile channel.

[jpak]

44. Try Aransas Pass at night

Hydraulics was the only saving grace...

[NightWatcher]

47. Haha, but were you doing it in hydraulic dredge that was converted from a 1940's ship?

we'd pass some ships so close that we'd throw fruit at each other.

[jpak]

49. No - the hydraulics kept the passing vessels from colliding - if they kept in lane

The displacement of water from each ship pushed them away - and kept them from smashing into the jetty.

It was like playing chicken during the day - but at night , it was a different game.

And it only worked with larger vessels - that declared their intentions - small boats? = Davy Jones.

I got checked out on my night small boat operations there - and never ever went out at night after that.

nope

[jpak]

50. No - but they could be spoofing the navigational radars

that are basically commercial radars - not military.

[Calista241]

87. Naval Ships don't rely on GPS for navigation and ship tracking purposes.

It looks like the Navy ship was hit in the stern, but as the smaller vessel, it's their job to get out of the way.

[NCjack]

29. This goes to the top -- Pres. Trump. If he projected strength, the Russians won't dare. nt

[xor]

58. While I understand the wild thoughts, but we literally have no idea what happened here

I ran through a bunch of crazy theories too, but they are just passing thoughts based on nothing. Do you have some information that would suggest this is something specific, or that it's not just incompetence or perhaps a technical/mechanical problem, or even whose fault it is?

[NCjack]

62. Of course not. I'm sitting in an isolated shack in NC, just transposing what the

Repugs would be saying if Obama were president. That is, it's the fault of the Orange Turd. If he were stronger, we wouldn't have problems with Putin.

[xor]

92. oh oh oh Obama doesn't haven't to be president for them still do that.

I've seen it said a few times already. It's amazing and disturbing how they are still blaming Obama for EVERYTHING.

[dalton99a]

32. WTF

[DRoseDARs]

33. What is it with John McCain and destroying military craft?

Christ, even his namesake isn't immune.

[hack89]

100. It is not named after him. Nt

[Purveyor]

36. From CNN International...

From CNN International.

The Navy's 7th Fleet said the USS John S. McCain collided with the merchant vessel Alnic MC while the destroyer was making its way to a port visit in Singapore. The collision was reported at 5:24 am local time, according to the Navy statement.

A Navy official told CNN the McCain was fighting flooding in several places and that it had limited propulsion and electrical power. The Navy said the McCain was steaming under its own power to port.

Merchant ship in collison is the Alnic MC, an oil and chemical tanker.

Can't find any reports yet on the condition/status of the Alnic MC.

[muriel_volestrangler]

96. 5:24am, visibility should have been fairly good

Certainly not pitch black.

[Sancho]

38. Alnic MC appears to be a 183 meter tanker...

and it doesn't make sense to me how this keeps happening.

Commercial ships might not see a "dark" military ship, but the commercial ships almost always are identified with AIS, show up on radar, display lots of lights, etc.

[Purveyor]

39. She has a 30,000 ton oil/chemical capacity. Hope she was empty... eom

The merchant vessel Alnic is 182 meters (600 feet) long and has a dead weight of 50,760 tons, the Washington Post reported. The ship has a 30,000+ ton oil/chemical tank and was built in 2007. The Alnic sails under the Liberian flag and is reportedly operated by Stealth Maritime Corporation S.A.

[Wash. state Desk Jet]

42. From the Daily Mail

The Alnic MC is an oil and chemical tanker that sails under the Liberain flag. It is 600feet long and has a deadweight tonnage of 50,760. The John McCain is 505feet long.
A ship tracking website shows that the Alnic was not loaded full of oil for cargo


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4808054/USS-John-McCain-collides-merchant-ship.html#ixzz4qLppPRSg
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

[Purveyor]

43. Thanks, a bit of good news now if we can only account for our sailors. Godspeed. eom

[Wash. state Desk Jet]

45. From CNN

http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/20/asia/us-navy-destroyer-collision-singapore/index.html?adkey=bn






The guided-missile destroyer USS John S. McCain operates in the Philippine Sea in June 2017.
Story highlights
10 US Navy sailors are missing
Search and rescue efforts are under way

(CNN)Ten US Navy sailors are missing after a US Navy guided-missile destroyer collided with a merchant ship east of Singapore early Monday, the Navy said in a statement.
The Navy's 7th Fleet said the USS John S. McCain collided with the merchant vessel Alnic MC while the destroyer was making its way to a port visit in Singapore. The collision was reported at 5:24 am local time, according to the Navy statement.
A Navy official told CNN the McCain was fighting flooding in several places and that it had limited propulsion and electrical power. The Navy said the McCain was steaming under its own power to port.


On June 17, the guided-missile destroyer USS Fitzgerald collided with a container ship off the coast of Japan. That collision resulted in the deaths of seven US sailors.
On May 9, the guided-missile cruiser USS Lake Champlain was struck by a small fishing boat off the Korean Peninsula.
And in late January, the guided-missile cruiser USS Antietam ran aground while trying to anchor in Tokyo Bay.
All four of the US warships are equipped with the Aegis missile defense system, which has been touted as a possible defense against any North Korean missile launch that might endanger US forces and US allies in Asia.
In a report on the Fitzgerald collision released just last week, the Navy it would review its training and qualification procedures.
"The collision was avoidable and both ships demonstrated poor seamanship. Within Fitzgerald, flawed watch stander teamwork and inadequate leadership contributed to the collision," a 7th Fleet statement said.

[Sancho]

46. Like a lot of commercial vessels it appears to have a prow underwater...

https://www.vesseltracker.com/en/Ships/Alnic-Mc-9396725.html

No wonder it caused a lot of flooding. At least military ships would have watertight compartments, pumps, damage crews, etc.

[gladium et scutum]

68. Most Large Commercial Vessels

and most large Naval Vessels have that bulbous bow. It aids in hydrodynamic efficiency when nearing their top speed.

[Wash. state Desk Jet]

41. Daily Mail has slightly more info.

Ten sailors missing and five injured after USS John S. McCain collides with even bigger oil tanker: Destroyer crashes near Singapore - just two months after USS Fitzgerald crashed into Filipino cargo ship
Five sailors have been reported injured and 10 are missing after the USS John S McCain was involved in a collision with a merchant vessel on Monday morning 
US guided-missile destroyer collided with merchant vessel Alnic MC at 5.24am east of Singapore and the Strait of Malacca
The Alnic MC, an oil tanker, is 600feet long and the John McCain is 505feet long
John McCain is now sailing under its own power and heading to port, Navy said
Crew is reportedly fighting flooding in two crew berthings and the 'shaft alley'
John McCain sustained damage to port side aft, or the left rear, of the ship 
This is the second collision involving a ship from the Navy's 7th Fleet in the Pacific in two months
The USS Fitzgerald and a container ship hit each other in waters off Japan in June

Ten sailors are missing and five have been reported injured after the USS John S McCain was involved in a collision with a merchant vessel on Monday morning, the Navy has said. 

The collision between the US guided-missile destroyer and merchant vessel Alnic MC was reported at 5.24am local time.
The John McCain was underway east of Singapore and the Strait of Malacca, on its way to a routine port visit in Singapore.
It is now sailing under its own power and heading to port, the Navy said.
The crew is reportedly fighting flooding in two crew berthings and an area of the ship known as the 'shaft alley'.
The ship sustained damage to its port side aft, or the left rear. 
This is the second collision involving a ship from the Navy's 7th Fleet in the Pacific in two months. 
Seven sailors died in June when








http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4808054/USS-John-McCain-collides-merchant-ship.html

[DDySiegs]

48. This ship was not named for Senator McCain

The USS John McCain was named for the senator's father and grandfather both of whom were admirals.

This warship is named after John S. McCain, Sr., and John S. McCain, Jr., both Admirals in the United States Navy. John S. McCain, Sr., commanded the aircraft carrier USS Ranger, and acted as commander of the Fast Carrier Task Force during the latter stages of World War II. John S. McCain, Jr., commanded the U.S. Navy submarines USS Gunnel and USS Dentuda during World War II. Subsequently, he held a number of posts, rising to Commander-in-Chief of the United States Pacific Command before retiring in 1972. These men were the grandfather and father of Senator John S. McCain III.[2]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_John_S._McCain_(DDG-56)

[KY_EnviroGuy]

52. This will scare hell out of you - GPS Spoofing

Could affect anyone/anything using GPS:
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2143499-ships-fooled-in-gps-spoofing-attack-suggest-russian-cyberweapon/

[xor]

61. Not sure simply spoofing GPS would explain this.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

71. Common sense would agree..

Although I'm not familiar with the Navy's navigation systems. Would make common sense that they would be using visual watches and radar to avoid collision along with specialized ship ID systems, and GPS for overall navigation. Perhaps some of our Navy vets and/or commercial shipping hands could help us understand.

Our thoughts and support go out to these sailors tonight.

[maxrandb]

103. Navigating in Shipping Channels is a "frickin" Nightmare at times, but

The ship would normally have the Special Sea and Anchor Detail set and be in "Restricted Maneuvering" status. That means additional bridge, lookout, CEC, Anchor Windless, Foc'sle, Damage Control, Engineering and other watches are manned and the "best of the best" are manning the Helm and Navigation watches.

It's hard to understand this, especially with these class of ships. Was on one class of ships for an INSURV Inspection. Went from 35 knots to backing in about 13 seconds when we did the Emergency Crashback Drill.

These ships are something to see. I was on a Battleship back in the 1980's, and it would take us about 2 nautical miles to go from full speed to stopped. These Destroyers are about as close to "turning on a dime" as a Navy warship can get...

I'll wait to see the JAGMAN Investigation, but something tells me that someone lost SA somewhere in the Navigation Detail.

[rickford66]

86. Originally, there were intentional errors built into GPS satellite signals.

Meant to keep civilian and other nations GPS receivers less accurate. These errors have been removed and currently, everyone's GPS is as accurate as our military is. I imagine there could be a way of coding the signals to alert for spoofing. You need 4 satellites above the horizon to pinpoint a location and there's usually more than that in view. For ships, three satellites would be enough, so a receiver could detect spoofing and ignore all those that don't agree. I also doubt our Navy relies exclusively on GPS for NAV. Using an INS in parallel with GPS would quickly alert them that one is seriously in error. An INS relies on GYROs which couldn't be hacked from outside. Anyway, I'm not doubting that the Russians are trying this.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

90. Thanks

Will read up on the INS system. I recall when GPS was just a rich boys toy, the resolution was several dozen meters if you could grab enough satellites and as you say, nowadays much better.

The article on spoofing implied the attacker could theoretically block all the satellites in a given area easily because the satellite signals are so weak. That said, and assuming some rogue knocked all the McCain's satellite signals and sent simulated false location info, could that temporarily throw the ship's command into disarray? Let's say, for example that GPS and INS disagreed by a distance of 1,000 ft., what would the officers do?

If this thing starts being done on a massive scale, I can't imagine the potential disruptions world-wide.

Regardless, for this incident, we probably won't know exactly what happened for months and it may very well be the other ship's fault. I'm still trying to grasp the thought of two ships as long as two football fields trying to maneuver with any speed.

[rickford66]

101. One third of a ship's crew would be awake at any time.

There should be personnel on a visual watch, so if there is a disagreement among whatever NAV systems they usually rely on, the backup would be what sailors have used for centuries, their eyes. These two latest disasters were avoidable. As a Navy vet, I'm very interested the results of the investigations. I never served on a ship and I can hardly imagine the horror of seawater crashing into a berthing area. There's no wasted space aboard ships so being suddenly awoken and being trapped is beyond my imagination. I'm sure their shipmates did all they could to save the victims.

[Sunlei]

105. read that last year, and thought how easy for one of thousands of tankers to be compromised..

or even one shipping container trucked off the port into the city.

[humbled_opinion]

54. President responds to collision...

"That's too bad"....

Seriously WTF is that.

[dalton99a]

64. Disgraceful

[xor]

56. Jesus. Again? I hope they find the sailors, but this doesn't sound good.

Two in a few months time period? Almost makes me starting thing all conspiratorial.

[Podkayne K]

60. Two Ship Collisions

If this had happened under a HRC Presidency, there wouldn't be enough committee hearings from the fascist echo chambers of congress, Fox, Brietbark, et. all. It would be Benghazi on steroids. Yet, there hasn't been a peep from Dems or the alleged "leftist press."

And we wonder why the Pukes... Do I really need to finish this sentence? We are a bunch of morons.

[sarisataka]

65. The Navy needs a new collision avoidance system...

[dalton99a]

74. +1

[vkkv]

83. Trump's military IS THE BEST !!!!!!

Come on, this is IDIOCY!

People are DYING.

[Wash. state Desk Jet]

84. Loss of steering reported before collision

10 US Navy sailors missing after destroyer collides with merchant ship

By Brad Lendon, CNN

Updated 11:22 PM ET, Sun August 20, 2017


A US Navy official told CNN the McCain had experienced a loss of steering before the collision, but that steering had been regained.
The US Navy statement did not give information on the status of the oil tanker.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/20/asia/us-navy-destroyer-collision-singapore/index.html

[Purveyor]

88. Yeppers. eom

[elmac]

89. Is China or NK F'ing with our navagation systems, WTF?

[Pugster]

91. Is someone hacking the steering system?

You never know.

[nitpicker]

93. Two pre-dawn collisions

In crowded shipping areas.

Could it be that the training for operating under such conditions (versus on the open ocean) needs to be improved?

[Sgent]

95. Some serious heads are going to roll

over this.

The captain and XO are almost certain to get booted out after they have retirement time (if they don't already), but this is going to f some people up further up the chain. 2 collisions, 4 months, all by the 7th fleet.

Some admirals just had their careers ended.

[NecklyTyler]

98. McCain crashes four aircraft and now his ship has crashed

McCain is a wretched individual

[Bernardo de La Paz]

99. It's NOT "his ship" and it's NOT even named after him. Crashes mostly RW conspiracy theories

Basically he crashed one plane that the Navy blamed on him: "inattention to altitude".

The others including the Forrestal fire and getting shot down over Vietnam are not attributed to him, ... except by elements of the hard right wing who seize on anything because they think he is a liberal on immigration and other issues.

[NecklyTyler]

125. Funny, I learned about McCain's crashes here on DU

McCain may not be a friend of Trump, but that does not make him a friend of us. I am surprised and disappointed that a Democrat would defend this horrible excuse for a human on a Democratic discussion board.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

130. You are mistaken. Wrong. He is NOT being defended.

The facts are being defended.

[Sunlei]

104. My God!what a tragedy for our Navy. Where is a list of injured & missing? IS GP'S compromised??

This kind of close clip accident doesn't happen with thousands of dockings, now twice recently.

I fear the GPS system is compromised.

[gladium et scutum]

107. GPS has little to do with preventing a collision with another ship

in open waters. Surface search radar is the tool used to aid in preventing this type of accident from happening

[Sunlei]

111. every ship has the open GPS, its very crowded out there- yes the eyes need to be used.

All it takes is one of those tankers in the crowded corridors to swerve a little bit and bang a collision.

This just doesn't happen with our Navy. I find it very odd these two Navy ships were targeted out of ALL the tankers, shipping barges, fishing ships out there.

IMO someone compromises the GPS on shipping barges and tankers. A heck of a weapon-they visits ports around the world.

[gladium et scutum]

116. All GPS does is give you a very accurate

position on the face of the earth. It does not tell you where the other ship is at. That is what radar does, it give you range and bearing to another ship. Using radar information plus a set of skilled eyes is what is normally used to avoid collisions at sea.

[Sunlei]

119. they're so close in shipping lanes,a lot of traffic. so many die asleep, what a horrible way to go!

missing

[gladium et scutum]

120. In my opinion

Like the Fitzgerald, the McCain collision was the result of human error, not mechanical or electrical problems.

[Sunlei]

122. no I think theres something wonkie with the GPS & the computers & the radar systems- on the shipping

boats.

Those ships that hit ours shouldn't be allowed to go to port, their guidance systems need to be examined by experts.

[gladium et scutum]

123. OK n/t

[Deb]

106. Sunrise was @ 5:04am Tokyo

Reporting times of incident differs.

[sofa king]

108. Another direct comparison to the Worst President Ever.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ehime_Maru_and_USS_Greeneville_collision

The Greeneville incident was one of the first indications that the Bush the Dumber coup couldn't find their way out of an open cardboard box, and they went on to prove that for another eight years.

By comparison to today, it was expertly handled.

[Maxheader]

110. God Bless

Hope they find them safe.

[harun]

112. This didn't happen in Obama's Navy.

[SweetieD]

115. No updates about this story for hours. What is going on?

I imagine the news isn't good about the missing men. But it is strange that there is a news blackout on this.

[Binkie The Clown]

126. So now our enemies know how to disable a US Navy ship.

Put a cargo vessel within striking distance and just wait for the Navy to ram it.