Friday, June 23, 2017

Cargo Ship That Hit The USS Fitzgerald Was On Autopilot. U.S. Destroyer Did Not Detect The Container Ship Until It was Too Late

Heavy damage is pictured on the US Navy missile destroyer USS Fitzgerald after it collided with a cargo ship near Japan early on Saturday morning

Washington Free Beacon: Freighter Was On Autopilot When It Hit U.S. Destroyer

USS Fitzgerald did not detect container ship

The deadly collision between a U.S. destroyer and a container ship June 17 took place while the freighter was on autopilot, according to Navy officials.

The Philippines-flagged cargo ship ACX Crystal was under control of a computerized navigation system that was steering and guiding the container vessel, according to officials familiar with preliminary results of an ongoing Navy investigation.

Investigators so far found no evidence the collision was deliberate.

Nevertheless, an accident during computerized navigation raises the possibility the container ship's computer system could have been hacked and the ship deliberately steered into the USS Fitzgerald, an Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer.

A more likely explanation is that collision was the result of an autopilot malfunction, or the autopilot's warning signals, used to notify the ship's operators, were missed.

Read more ....

More News On The USS Fitzgerald Accident

Japanese cargo ship WAS on autopilot when it collided with the USS Fitzgerald - and five of the seven sailors who died in the crash were 'incapacitated' almost instantly -- Daily Mail
Cargo ship that hit US destroyer near Japan was on autopilot, data shows -- RT
Rear admiral to investigate Fitzgerald collision -- Navy Times/AP
Investigators obtain data recorder in USS Fitzgerald collision -- Stars and Stripes
Navy sailor sacrificed himself to save 20 lives after the USS Fitzgerald collision -- SOFREP
USS Fitzgerald sailors faced tough decision to close ship’s flooded section where seven crewmates died -- NYDaily News
How Could the Fitzgerald Collision Happen? -- Kyle Mizokami, Popular Mechanics
These Are the Enormous Ships That Could Transport the USS Fitzgerald -- Popular Mechanics

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

didnt detect until it was to late! so much for radar i guess

Unknown said...

Why does a crew of 20 or so sailing coastal waters not have watch standers 24/7?

Unknown said...

It would be educational to get a copy of the cargo ship's watch organization and a description of each crew member's job.

If they had 45 people I am damn sure they would have had enough people n the cargo ship for everything.

Being a coastal ship I am not sure how they would handle maintenance on deck or in the engine room. I am also not sure how they handled the galley either.

Jay Farquharson said...

20 crew,

7 per watch, engines, lookouts, cargo watch, kitchen, systems

3 helmsmen,

Never been to sea, have you Billy?

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=__QmUvZCNaI

Meanwhile, the USS Fitzgerald, a ship 1/4 of the tonnage, with sensir's that can spot a ballistic warhead at 34,000 nm, and a crew of 291, 91 per watch, "never saw nutting",

LMFAO

fazman said...

Same radar that detected and identified the iranian passenger jet l suppose.

fazman said...

Segal is in charge in the galley.

Unknown said...

Cargo Watch?

Now that is Hilarious!

aka the refrigeration engineer or the like.

Now if you were going to automate anything and have non ne up, it would be that.

Seriously, no one on the bridge?