U.S. jet KOs Syria regime attack plane
THEY DIED IN their sleeping quarters.
The seven U.S. Navy sailors who were killed after their destroyer hit a containership off the Japanese coast were found in the ship’s flooded berthing compartments, officials said Sunday.
Most of the approximately 300-member crew was asleep when the collision with the massive Philippine containership occurred at 2:20 a.m. on Saturday.
“This loss is something we all feel,” said Vice Adm. Joseph Aucoin, commander of the U.S. 7th Fleet.
The Navy’s search and rescue effort has been concluded, he added.
The names of the seven sailors were released Sunday night.
The sailors may have been killed on impact or drowned in the flooding, said Navy spokesman Lt. Paul Newell, who gave reporters a tour of the damaged destroyer.
The destruction indicates the collision occurred at a high speed.
“There was a big puncture, a big gash underneath the water line” by the bottom of the Fitzgerald, Aucoin said.
“The damage was significant,” he added. “This was not a small collision.”
Early Saturday morning, the ship’s captain, Cmdr. Bryce Benson, was flown to the U.S. Naval Hospital in Yokosuka, Japan. He suffered a head injury, authorities said.
The ship’s entire cabin was crushed in the collision.
The surviving Navy crew valiantly worked to cordon off the areas taking on water.
“The water flow was tremendous, and so there wasn’t a lot of time in those spaces that were open to the sea,” said Aucoin, adding that “they had to fight the ship to keep it above the surface. It was traumatic.”
The Navy is investigating the cause of the crash, which occurred on a clear night. The area is a heavily trafficked spot with as many as 400 ships traveling past each day.
Based on the damage, it appears as if the ACX Crystal smashed into the much smaller destroyer at a high speed.
The containership appeared to be trying to change paths by making a U-turn right before the crash, according to some ship trackers.
The 20-member Filipino crew was uninjured, according to Japanese shipping company Nippon Yusen K.K., which operates the ship.
“We are struck by deep sorrow,” Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said in a message to President Trump on Sunday. “I express my heartfelt solidarity to America at this difficult time,” he added.
The Navy said the sailors killed were Gunner’s Mate Seaman Dakota Rigsby, 19, from Palmyra, Va.; Yeoman 3rd Class Shingo Douglass, 25, from San Diego; Sonar Tech. 3rd Class Ngoc Truong Huynh, 25, from Oakville, Conn.; Gunner’s Mate 2nd Class Noe Hernandez, 26, from Weslaco, Tex.; Fire Controlman 2nd Class Carlosvictor Sibayan, 23, from Chula Vista, Calif.; Personnel Spec. 1st Class Xavier Martin, 24, from Halethorpe, Md., and Fire Controlman 1st Class Gary Rehm, 37, from Elyria, Ohio. A U.S. NAVY fighter aircraft shot down a Syrian Air Force jet over the war-torn country Sunday, the Pentagon said.
The downing of a Syrian Su-22 by an American F/A-18E Super Hornet was in response to an attack by pro-Syrian regime forces on the town of Ja’Din, south of Tabqah, which caused an unknown number of casualties among Syrian Democratic Forces soldiers.
The SDF is an alliance of mostly Kurdish and Arab rebel forces that are supported by the U.S. in the fight against the Islamic State.
“The coalition’s mission is to defeat ISIS in Iraq and Syria,” the Pentagon statement read.
“The coalition does not seek to fight Syrian regime, Russian or pro-regime forces partnered with them, but will not hesitate to defend coalition or partner forces from any threat.”
A statement from the Syrian military said the Su-22 was conducting raids against ISIS, and that its pilot was missing.
The shootdown marks an escalation of hostilities between the U.S. and Syrian leader Bashar Assad’s forces.
In April, the U.S. fired 59 cruise missiles at a Syrian air base after a chemical attack by the Assad regime killed 100 civilians in a Syrian town.