Daily Mail: USS Fitzgerald is damaged AGAIN: Hull of the beleaguered destroyer is punctured by a transport ship that was supposed to take it to the U.S. for repairs after it collided with a vessel in Japan
* The USS Fitzgerald, an Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer, was damaged in a collision with a merchant vessel off Japan this summer
* It was patched up at its home port in Yokosuka, Japan, so that it could be hauled to Mississippi to undergo more extensive repairs
* But as it was being loaded onto a heavy-lift vessel on Sunday in deep water, it suffered two more punctures to its hull and had to be taken back to Yokosuka
* Temporary repairs will likely delay the ship's journey back to the U.S. a few days
* Seven sailors were killed and three more injured in the first accident in June
* Repairs are expected to cost the Navy $367million
A U.S. destroyer that was significantly damaged in a fatal collision with a merchant vessel off the coast of Japan this summer has suffered a further blow.
After the initial accident, the USS Fitzgerald, an Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer, was taken to its home port in Yokosuka, Japan to be patched up so that it could be hauled to Huntington Ingalls Industries in Pascagoula, Mississippi for extensive repairs.
Those repairs were recently completed and the plan was to load the Fitzgerald onto a heavy lift vessel that would transport it to Mississippi.
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WNU Editor: The US Navy's Pacific fleet is cursed.
More News On The USS Fitzgerald Suffering Additional Damage By A Transport Ship During Loading
USS Fitzgerald returns to Fleet Activities Yokosuka aboard MV Transshelf -- Commander, US 7th Fleet
USS Fitzgerald Returns to Yokosuka after Being Damaged during Loading -- Military.com
USS Fitzgerald Back in Yokosuka After Suffering Damage During Transit -- USNI News
Crippled US destroyer damaged by transport ship -- CNN
Crippled US Warship Suffers More Damage as It Heads for Repairs -- Newsweek
The USS Fitzgerald was damaged again by the massive ship that was supposed to take it to the US for repairs -- Business Insider
USS Fitzgerald Returns to Yokosuka to Repair New Damage -- The Diplomat
Navy deals with delays in getting McCain and Fitzgerald to repair yards -- Marine Log
Unlucky Seventh: 'Asian curse' continues to haunt US Pacific Fleet -- RT
I think the "curse" is to many deployments, to few ships, to few service personnel, and all of this leads to poor training, low morale among the forces, tired and overworked personnel who are going to be prone to make mistakes. Obviously such things cannot be expected to end well.
ReplyDeleteThere are two obvious solutions to this. 1.)Scale back the deployments and the number of ships to a reasonable amount that can be afforded and properly maintained in such a manner that actually makes sense for America's national security needs. 2.)Implement a draft and take money from necessary infrastructure and social programs to fund all of this.
If option 2 is chosen, then there are going to be massive protests as Americans WILL RESENT having our people deployed to various places around the world and having the lives of our people taken and having them maimed in other cases for fruitless military actions around the world that do not advance America's security or economic interests. As such, if option 2 is chosen, it is going to ultimately lead to option 1 being the only viable option.
The best course of action is going to be option 1 sooner rather than later. When in a hole, the first thing to do is to STOP DIGGING!!