SINGAPORE (AP) — The USS John S. McCain guided missile destroyer docked Monday at Singapore’s naval base with “significant damage” to its hull after an early morning collision with an oil tanker, as vessels from several nations searched for 10 missing U.S. sailors.
The collision east of Singapore between the destroyer and the 183-meter (600-foot) Alnic MC, which has recent safety violations, was the second involving a ship from the U.S. Navy’s 7th Fleet in the Pacific in two months.
Vessels and aircraft from the U.S., Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia are searching for the missing sailors. Four sailors were evacuated by a Singaporean navy helicopter to a hospital in the city-state for treatment of non-life threatening injuries, the Navy said. A fifth injured sailor did not require further medical attention.
The McCain had been heading to Singapore on a routine port visit after conducting a sensitive freedom-of-navigation operation last week by sailing near one of China’s man-made islands in the South China Sea.
The Navy’s 7th Fleet said damage to the McCain’s hull flooded adjacent compartments including crew berths, machinery and communications rooms. A damage control response prevented further flooding, it said.
The destroyer was damaged on its port side aft, or left rear, in the 5:24 a.m. collision but headed to port under its own power.
A photo tweeted by Malaysian navy chief Ahmad Kamarulzaman Ahmad Badaruddin showed a gaping hole in the McCain’s side near the waterline. Janes, a defense industry publication, estimated the hull rupture was 3 meters (10 feet) wide.
One of the injured sailors, Operations Specialist 2nd Class Navin Ramdhun, posted a Facebook message telling family and friends he was OK and awaiting surgery for an arm injury.
He told The Associated Press in a message that he couldn’t say what happened. “I was actually sleeping at that time. Not entirely sure.”
The Singapore government said no crew were injured on the Liberian-flagged Alnic, which sustained damage to a compartment at the front of the ship some 7 meters (23 feet) above its waterline. There were no reports of a chemical or oil spill.
Singapore sent tugboats and naval and coast guard vessels to search for the missing sailors and Indonesia said it sent two warships. Malaysia said two ships as well as aircraft from its navy and air force were helping with the search, and the USS America deployed Osprey aircraft and Seahawk helicopters.
There was no immediate explanation for the collision, and the Navy said an investigation would be conducted. Singapore, at the southernmost tip of the Malay Peninsula, is one of the world’s busiest ports and a U.S. ally, with its naval base regularly visited by American warships.
The collision was the second involving a ship from the Navy’s 7th Fleet in the Pacific in two months. Seven sailors died in June when the USS Fitzgerald and a container ship collided in waters off Japan.
The Fitzgerald’s captain was relieved of his command and other sailors were being punished after the Navy found poor seamanship and flaws in keeping watch contributed to the collision, the Navy announced last week. An investigation into how and why the Fitzgerald collided with the other ship was not finished, but enough details were known to take those actions, the Navy said.
The Greek owner of the tanker, Stealth Maritime Corp. S.A., replaced its website with a notice that says it is cooperating with the Maritime Port Authority of Singapore’s investigation and with “other responding agencies.” It says “thoughts and prayers are with the families of the missing U.S. Navy sailors.”
An official database for ports in Asia shows the Alnic was last inspected in the Chinese port of Dongying on July 29 and had one document deficiency, one fire safety deficiency and two safety of navigation problems.
The database doesn’t go into details and the problems were apparently not serious enough for the Liberian-flagged vessel to be detained by the port authority.
U.S. President Donald Trump expressed concern for the McCain’s crew.
Trump returned to Washington on Sunday night from his New Jersey golf club. When reporters shouted questions to him about the McCain, he responded, “That’s too bad.”
About two hours later, Trump tweeted that “thoughts and prayers” are with the McCain’s sailors as search and rescue efforts continue.
The 154-meter (505-foot) destroyer is named after U.S. Sen. John McCain’s father and grandfather, who were both U.S. admirals. It’s based at the 7th Fleet’s homeport of Yokosuka, Japan. It was commissioned in 1994 and has a crew of 23 officers, 24 chief petty officers and 291 enlisted sailors, according the Navy’s website.
McCain said on Twitter that he and his wife, Cindy, are “keeping America’s sailors aboard the USS John S McCain in our prayers tonight — appreciate the work of search & rescue crews.”
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Wright reported from Bangkok. AP writers Eileen Ng in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and Ali Kotarumalos in Jakarta, Indonesia, contributed to this report.
To whoever writes these things, please learn the difference between soldiers, sailors, and Marines.
It would seem that the 7th Fleet is having a collision of the month contest. Can this really be coincidence? Are there that many incompetent commanding officers of destroyers in the 7th Fleet?
I ache for the missing men, but if they haven’t been found by now, they won’t be unless they are still in their bunks.
Eternal Father, strong to save,
Whose arm hath bound the restless wave,
Who bidd’st the mighty ocean deep
Its own appointed limits keep;
Oh, hear us when we cry to Thee,
For those in peril on the sea!
Two ‘accidents’ in two months? Two, too weird.
Both collisions happened at night. Wonder what the sailors on watch were doing. Playing cards? Watching videos? It is pretty clear they weren’t actually sailing their ship.
My brother was an enlisted man on the bridge of a destroyer years ago. As they pulled into Pearl Harbor one time he watched as the captain took control of the helm from a junior officer. He quietly said I need a 5 degree turn to port. The relieved helmsman immediately complied. He turned to the officer in charge of navigation and quietly said “lieutenant I don’t want to lose my command in a collision with the the USS Arizona.” My point is quite often junior officers have major responsibilities. I really want to know who was on the bridge.
Story time! My avatar is the formula for the Poisson distribution. One of the famous data sets that popularized the Poisson was a study of death by horse kick in the Prussian Army. On average the Prussians lost one soldier a month to horse kicks but the distribution was not flat. There would be periods of no deaths for months followed by a cluster of deaths in one or two weeks. Or sometimes it would be flat or there would be a cluster of deaths by unit rather than time etc. It could be due to stable conditions, poor husbandry or horsemanship, bad training, disease etc. It turned out to be random, and the patterns were generated by chance. Freak occurrences do sometimes in time and place just by chance.
https://mindyourdecisions.com/blog/2013/06/21/what-do-deaths-from-horse-kicks-have-to-do-with-statistics/
I can understand two terrorists in a row boat sneaking up on you but how do you not notice an oil tanker heading toward you?
(I’m sure there will be alengthy investigation to answer that.)
Can you imagine if there had been two disasters like this under a Dem President?