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[Tovarisc]

"Some remains" of 10 missing US sailors have been found after the collision between the US destroyer John S. McCain and an oil tanker near Singapore, US Navy Adm. Scott Swift said Tuesday.

Navy and Marine Corps divers found the remains in the sealed compartments aboard the McCain, said Swift, commander of the Pacific Fleet.

The Royal Malaysian Navy has located one body at sea, and officials are working to determine if it is one of the missing sailors, he said. Divers have also located others.

US military divers continue to search the flooded areas of the McCain. Ships and planes are scouring the seas east of Singapore. Divers will also assess the extent of damage to the warship, which is docked at a Singapore naval facility, according to the Navy.

"Until we have exhausted any potential of recovering survivors or bodies, the search and rescue efforts will continue," Swift said.

"This trend demands more forceful action," Adm. John Richardson, chief of naval operations, said. Swift said the Pacific Fleet will complete the operational pause by next Monday.

Swift also said there will be "a deliberate reset for our ships focused on a number of areas, such as navigation, ship's mechanical systems and bridge resource management." A reset refers to the restoration of unit or equipment capability and readiness.

"It will involve training and assessment by a team of experts," he said.

What caused the accident?

The McCain suffered a steering failure as the warship was beginning its approach into the Strait of Malacca, causing it to collide with a commercial tanker, a Navy official told CNN.

The official said it was unclear why the crew couldn't use the ship's backup steering systems to maintain control.

Earlier, another US Navy official told CNN there were indications the destroyer experienced a loss of steering right before the collision, but steering had been regained afterward.

Swift lauded the "damage control efforts of the crew," such as helping injured sailors and fighting to control the flooding and stability of the ship.

"John S. McCain was up and running as an operational ship almost immediately after the collision. It was quite extraordinary," he said.

What actions are being taken?

The spate of accidents suggests there could be a more systemic issue.
"This is the second major collision in the last three months, and is the latest in a series of major incidents, particularly in the Pacific theater," Richardson said as he announced the operational pause.

The United States has ordered a "comprehensive review," which Defense Secretary James Mattis said "will determine any of the causal factors, to determine what's going on -- both immediate contributors to this incident but also any related factors."

The review will take place over a week in a series of 24-hour periods during which on-board actions, as well as leadership and operational procedures, will be examined.

Speaking at the Osan Air Base in South Korea, Adm. Harry Harris, commander of the US forces in the Pacific, said the pause would not have an effect on the ability "to defend our nation and our allies."

Retired Navy Rear Adm. John Kirby, a CNN diplomatic and military analyst, said the Navy will look at a number of factors to try to understand if there's a systemic problem.

"They'll look at the quality of leadership at all levels, the amount and the quality of training that commanders have been able to get done, shipboard watch-standing procedures and qualifications, and system and equipment readiness," Kirby said.

"I suspect they will also want to consider the degree to which the budget uncertainty of the last few years has likewise affected any of those factors."

http://edition.cnn.com/2017/08/21/p...s-mccain-collision1057PMVODtop&CNNPolitics=Tw

 

[TheContact]

I'm not a maritime expert but I can't wrap my head around his boat collisions can occur on such vast open waters. Rip to the sailors

 

[Sephzilla]

Um... don't these boats have redundant backup steering systems and why weren't they used?

 

[SpaceWolf]

Read the title thread and for a moment assumed Senator John McCain was behind the captain's wheel of a destroyer for some reason.

 

[Kthulhu]

Um... don't these boats have redundant backup steering systems and why weren't they used?

It says in the OP that they don't know why they didn't work.

 

[Zophar]

This almost seems like it was an effort at testing an attack. US naval superiority is the #1 reason our military is unmatched, so it would make sense to develop a weapon that can immobilize it.

 

[gamma]

How much time passed between the loss of steering and the collision? Wouldn't they sound the alarm so the crew could get to safety?

 

[OSHAN]

I'm not a maritime expert but I can't wrap my head around his boat collisions can occur on such vast open waters. Rip to the sailors

The waters where the collision took place were not "vast and open," apparently. Busy area.

 

[Nephtes]

This almost seems like it was an effort at testing an attack. US naval superiority is the #1 reason our military is unmatched, so it would make sense to develop a weapon that can immobilize it.

I don't want to be a tinfoil hat about this, but two collisions like this so close together?
I haven't made the hat yet, but I'm stocking up on tinfoil...

 

[Kensation]

https://youtu.be/3m5qxZm_JqM

 

[Bubba_Sparks]

Could just be a result of continued military cuts, coupled with a high operational tempo. Or a total coincidence that both ships suffered accidents of this nature close together.

 

[KernelPanic]

I don't want to be a tinfoil hat about this, but two collisions like this so close together?
I haven't made the hat yet, but I'm sticking up on tinfoil...

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/national/national-security/article168470432.html

There's been a bunch:

On Jan. 31, a guided missile cruiser, the USS Antietam, ran aground off the coast of Japan. On May 9, another cruiser, USS Lake Champlain, was struck by a South Korean fishing vessel.

In the wee hours of June 17, a destroyer, the USS Fitzgerald, a $1.5 billion vessel bristling with electronics, collided with a container ship, resulting in the deaths of seven sailors. The commanding officer and two other officers were formally removed from duties.

Sounding like a Tom Clancy novel:

In a little noticed June 22 incident, someone manipulated GPS signals in the eastern part of the Black Sea, leaving some 20 ships with little situational awareness. Shipboard navigation equipment, which appeared to be working properly, reported the location of the vessels 20 miles inland, near an airport.


That was the first known instance of GPS “spoofing,” or misdirection.

Much more serious than jamming, spoofing interferes with location even as computer screens offer normal readouts. Everything looks normal – but it isn’t.

“We saw it done in, I would say, a really unsubtle way, a really ham-fisted way. It was probably a signal that came from the Russian mainland,” Humphreys said.

Such spoofing once required expensive equipment and deep software coding skills. But Humphreys said it can now be done with off-the-shelf gear and easily attainable software.

 

[Gragen]

I've been through that strait 4 different times and I cannot even fathom how scary that situation had to of been with a loss of steering. It's a congested strait and generally fast paced. It wouldn't take long to get off track.

Also, that ship was commissioned in 1994 so I'd guess some shit needs replaced.