Thread: US destroyer collides with merchant vessel near Japan

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A Former Sailor’s Response to the recent Destroyer Collisions

"Over the last few days I have found myself getting very frustrated because it seems that everywhere I go there is an uninformed conversation occurring about how destroyers could have been in collisions. I was a proud Surface Warfare Officer for 11 years and three years ago I was the Operations officer onboard USS FITZGERALD. My stateroom was the one right next to the Commanding Officer’s cabin that was crushed like a tuna can in the collision last month. The common theme that I hear is “with the technology of today how…” or my favorite is “it is such a big ocean, how could two ships…?”. What I have come to realize is that there is a general lack of understanding from those that have never served aboard ships as to what leads to something like this. Here are a few thoughts:

1) The recent two collisions involving the USS FITZGERALD and USS JOHN S. McCAIN, were in some of the busiest nautical passages in the world. Those of us that have sailed those waters can attest to the nightmares that are attributed to those bodies of water. The strait of Malacca, where the JSM was hit, is the busiest nautical passage in the world and is the major thoroughfare between the Indian Ocean and the Pacific (so all the oil coming from the gulf to China). If you look at the strait from Singapore, it looks like you could walk from ship to ship without getting your feet wet. The FTZ was hit outside of the entrance to Tokyo Harbor, another very congested area. Most of the ships in these areas are going over 20 kts (23 mph), which if you have ever been water skiing, think about how fast that is… and then think about a ship that is 10,000 tons (destroyer)… or even 100,000 tons (large oil tanker) going that fast.

2) I have found in business when there is a safety incident, the response is similar. “How could that have happened?”… and the response from those doing the work is similar… “what we do is hard, and it takes a lot of work to ensure that these things don’t happen more often”. We need to appreciate what it is that people do, and the complexity of those jobs. Not to say it justifies what happened, but it allows us to approach it with a better understanding of the problem and the people impacted. When we start taking the complexity of those jobs for granted, then the understanding falls away. Only through true understanding can we fix the underlying problems.

3) The average age of the sailors that are on board Navy ships is 22 and the average experience level on a ship is less than five years. We have made these ships more and more complex and expected these young sailors to take on more and more knowledge. That means that you have less people becoming nautical experts. Merchant mariners that are on oil tankers do nothing but drive giant ships. Our sailors not only have to learn how to drive a 10,000 ton warship, they also have to learn how to shoot missiles, track airplanes, track submarines, shoot torpedoes, shoot tomahawk missiles, launch and land helicopters, shoot guns, catch pirates, firefighting and do boardings of suspicious vessels. There is an upper limit on human capacity. We might be there.

4) Deployment times are up, sleep is down. As the fleet size decreases (we had 6,000 ships in WWII, we now have just under 300), the number of missions have only increased. What that means is that we are doing more with less. We have created multi-mission platforms (see paragraph above) and we have required those ships to be deployed more. This is especially true in 7th Fleet, where both of these ships are. These ships are underway constantly. Every time Kim Jong Un decides to throw a temper tantrum, these ships get underway. Every time the Chinese decide to build on a new island, these ships get underway. When underway, sailors get very little sleep. There are watches to be stood 24 hours a day, drills to be run, qualifications to get and missions to accomplish. People get tired, and when they do, they make mistakes.

In closing, what I ask, is that instead of making assumptions and pointing fingers about who did what, find someone that has actually served in the Surface Navy and talk to them about it. Learn about how hard those jobs really are. Find out about the watches they stood and the things that kept them up at night. If you understand what happens at sea, then you will have a window into what leads to tragic events like this. Our sailors are some of the hardest working young people in the world and have an enormous weight on them every day. Don’t sell their service short".

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A Former Sailor’s Response to the recent Destroyer Collisions

Response from an old friend of mine to the above link I posted yesterday:

"Ok, nice write up but totally missing the point. As a former Naval Aviator with 2500 hours, I know why both of these incidents could have easily been avoided. In congested air or water space, aircraft and ships are required to report their position. Transponders for aircraft and AIS for ships. In both of these incidences, the commercial ship reported location on AIS and the DDG did not. The commercial ships in both cases were on highly predictable tracks over hundreds of miles. In both cases the DDGs cut in front of a commercial ship at night. AIS allows the ships to adjust the heading to miss these events. If the AIS is not active, then the system is not going to work. Procedure changes are coming IMHO to surface fleets to follow Maritime Law and use AIS in busy areas. We can't fly aircraft without a transponder, same with ships".

the commercial ship reported location on AIS and the DDG did not.

I was sure i had read somewhere that both the US ships involved had AIS turned off but I could not find the report so didnt mention it.

These big commercial ships are built to travel in as straight lines as possible and are therefor not highly maneuverable they have to slow down to turn and from cruising speed that takes time.

Only common sense to give way to something thats bigger than you, anywhere.