Collision that killed seven U.S. sailors almost sank their Navy destroyer.
YOKOSUKA, Japan — A U.S. Navy destroyer came close to sinking after a “traumatic” collision off the coast of Japan, the commander of the Seventh Fleet said Sunday, after the bodies of the missing sailors were found in the berthing compartments of the stricken vessel.
Multiple investigations are under way to determine how a technologically advanced U.S. warship was not able to get out of the way of a huge and cumbersome container ship, even if it had the right of way.
“This was a severe emergency,” Vice Adm. Joseph Aucoin said Sunday at the Yokosuka naval base, home of the U.S. Navy’s Seventh Fleet. The damaged Aegis-guided missile destroyer was docked behind him, pumps continuing to bring water out of the hull. “The damage was significant. This was not a small collision.”
Most of the damage occurred below the waterline in the form of a huge gash to the hull near the ship’s keel, which led to a “tremendous” amount of water rushing into two berthing cabins and a machinery room, he said.
“There wasn’t a lot of time in those spaces that were open to the sea, and as you can see now, the ship is still listing,” Aucoin said, gesturing to the destroyer behind him. “They had to fight this ship to keep it above the surface. It was traumatic.”
The crew stopped the ship from foundering or sinking and got it back to port, Aucoin said. The destroyer is salvageable, but repairs probably will take months, he said.
The collision occurred about 2:20 a.m. Saturday about 50 miles southwest of the U.S. Navy base at Yokosuka.
Marine tracking data showed the container ship, the Philippine-flagged ACX Crystal, which was sailing from the port of Nagoya to Tokyo, performed a sudden 180-degree turn in the busy shipping lane south of Yokosuka and doubled back along its path shortly before the crash. The weather was clear with a swell of about 6 feet at the time.
The fully loaded Crystal is nearly four times the size of the Fitzgerald, and photos from the scene showed scrapes to the port side of its bow. The Crystal is operated by Nippon Yusen K.K., a Japanese shipping company, and all 20 crew members were reported unharmed.
But the destroyer, nicknamed the Fighting Fitz within the Navy, suffered severe damage on its starboard side.
The impact struck berthing compartments that contained space for 116 sailors, and the commanding officer’s cabin was destroyed. Cmdr. Bryce Benson was the first to be evacuated from the vessel and is being treated at the U.S. naval hospital at Yokosuka. He was awake but not yet able to answer questions.