The Wall Street Journal - Seven U.S. Sailors Missing After Navy Destroyer Collides With Ship
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June 17, 2017. Alastair Gale.
USS Fitzgerald severely damaged in incident near Japan.
TOKYO—A U.S. destroyer severely damaged in a collision with a cargo vessel off the coast of Japan reached port as the Japanese and U.S. militaries searched for seven missing sailors.
The USS Fitzgerald collided with the Philippines-registered ACX Crystal around 2:30 a.m. Saturday local time, about 56 nautical miles southwest of Yokosuka, near Tokyo, the U.S. Navy said.
The impact caused significant damage to the 500-foot-long Fitzgerald above and below the waterline, resulting in flooding, the Navy said. Television footage showed a large area of the ship’s central region collapsed on its starboard, or right, side.
The Fitzgerald reached Yokosuka, home of the U.S. Seventh Fleet, under its own power around 6 p.m., the Navy said.
Three sailors were evacuated from the Fitzgerald by air for emergency treatment after suffering cuts and bruises. They included the ship’s commanding officer, Bryce Benson.
Ships from the Japanese coast guard, and U.S. and Japanese navies, as well as helicopters and other aircraft, were searching the area around the collision site for the seven missing sailors, the U.S. Navy said.
Nippon Yusen K.K . , the Japanese shipping company that operates the 728-foot-long ACX Crystal, said all of the 20 crew of the cargo ship were safe. The company said it would fully cooperate with an investigation into the cause of the collision.
Photos showed that the ACX Crystal, which was traveling from the Japanese port of Nagoya, sustained a gouge in its bow. The U.S. Navy doesn’t provide details of the routes of its ships, and it wasn’t clear where the Fitzgerald was traveling from.
The region where the two ships collided is often busy with marine traffic. Tracking data sent from the ACX Crystal showed that the ship reversed course about 25 minutes before the time of the accident, according to the website MarineTraffic.com.
The Fitzgerald had recently taken part in exercises in the Sea of Japan with two U.S. carrier strike groups and Japanese navy ships.
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