Seven missing after USS Fitzgerald collides with merchant ship off Japan

[DoctorQuest]

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jun/16/us-navy-destroyer-collides-ship-japan

Praying everyone is OK. Sounds like they are not quite sure what happened yet.

[OJsDad]

The missing 7 have been found dead. They were in some of the areas that had been hit by the container ship.

[Barthheart]

 :(

[mirth]

Pretty awful. The Captain is lucky to be alive. His cabin was in the area that was struck and he had retired for the night.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/18/world/asia/navy-uss-fitzgerald-japan.html

[bob48]

Damn - that's nasty.

[mirth]

Bridge audio from the USS Porter collision in 2012.

http://s3.amazonaws.com/hamptonroadscom/store/3541.mp3

[mirth]

View of the stateroom of Cmdr. Bryce Benson after the collision with ACX Crystal.

https://news.usni.org/2017/06/21/investigators-believe-uss-fitzgerald-crew-fought-flooding-for-an-hour-before-distress-call-reached-help

[jomni]

I have a question. Why did it happen in the first place. Aren't there rules on navigating the sea lanes? Right if way protocol? Wouldn't a small ship avoid the bigger one?

[Greybriar]

There should be, jomni. But even if there aren't common sense should have told the destroyer captain to steer clear of the larger ship.

My favorite example of a similar situation is this: If I am approaching a traffic intersection and I have a green light but there is a tractor-trailer rig speeding towards the intersection too fast to stop for its red light, I am going to yield to it despite having the right of way. Refusing to yield to the larger vehicle because I had the right of way in my example and therefore being "right" would result in me becoming "dead right."

[besilarius]

During a transit of the English Channel at night, we counted nine fishing boats that turned into the east bound ship channel and nearly caused collisions. They rig bright lights to attract fish closer to the surface, and these made the running lights hard to decipher. Knowing the Channel was one of the most travelled, and most regulated, ship lanes in the world, Captain Boorda had the Special Sea and Anchor detail set from the start. Returning to Portsmouth, going west, during the day was a breeze. You can't see a sudden turn on radar, you need at least three marks to see a change in course. Most collisions happen at night (Melbourne-Evans, Belknap-JFK, Andrea Doria-Stockholm) because all you have visually are four lights to guage any changes in course or target angle. During daylight, you can see the entire hull and superstructure to see changes. At night can be very difficult, especially when the ships are close.