NAVY SAYS TWO SHIP COLLISIONS PREVENTABLE

The Navy has found that two ship collisions that killed 17 sailors were preventable and caused in part by “multiple failures” by service members on watch, the service said Wednesday. The USS Fitzgerald and the USS John S. McCain suffered catastrophic collisions June 17 and Aug. 21. The Fitzgerald watch teams disregarded established ways of contacting ships and safety precautions. In the McCain collision, confusion about the ship’s steering caused chaos.