Bodies found in Navy destroyer

The Navy called off the search Sunday for seven sailors missing from the USS Fitzgerald after several bodies were found in the flooded destroyer, which had collided with a container ship off Japan.

The destroyer has a crew of about 300 and most were asleep when the ship collided early Saturday with the Philippine-flagged container ship ACX Crystal that was more than three times as large. Navy divers found “a number of” bodies in the ship Sunday, a day after tugs dragged the ship to the 7th Fleet’s home base in Yokosuka, Japan.

“The damage was significant; this was not a small collision,” said Vice Adm. Joseph Aucoin, the commander of the Navy’s 7th Fleet.

Sunday night the Navy released the names of the seven victims, who came from six states and ranged from age 19 to 37. None was from Wisconsin.