Final Report on the USS John McCain and USS Fitzgerald

[PlayDate]

It was painful to read this report.

-In the case of the USS Fitzgerald the Bridge crew lost situational awareness and could not follow orders.

-In the case of the USS McCain, the CO gave an order to his Helmsman to transfer Propulsion to an adjacent station. The Helmsman unknowingly transferred both Steering and Propulsion (training issue on a drop down menu) and effectively lost control of both. They couldn't figure out what when wrong in time to avoid the collision.

My heart goes out to the families who lost their sons on these ships.

http://s3.amazonaws.com/CHINFO/USS+Fitzgerald+and+USS+John+S+McCain+Collision+Reports.pdf

 

[Alegria]

Thanks for sharing this. Very interesting reading. I only read the Fitzgerald account. @0122 the JOD made a good call to slow down I think, but was over ruled.

This is a situation I think we are all in at times, I know I have been and made poor choices similar to what this crew did. If I increase speed, then that is my gut check that something is not right in these situations. The volume of traffic there is insane on the pictures. What a tense situation to be under for those officers.

I had trouble determining the separation areas. It looks like they were crossing the traffic lanes and were the give way vessel on the one side and stand on on the other. Quite confusing...

 

[PlayDate]

Crossing shipping lanes at the entrance to a busy port is dangerous. In the case of the Fitzgerald, they just lost visibility on what was going on around them.

I think the USN has taken a few steps to ensure it doesn't happen again. They plan on broadcasting their AIS when transiting busy ports which will help. Additionally broadcasting the AIS will make them visible not only to other ships but the Harbor Master that controls the inbound and outbound traffic separation.

Also, I'm speculating they will be making greater use of commercial Pilots to guide the ship when the crew lacks the experience.

We have all made mistakes....for most of us they do not include the deaths of sailors under our command. I can't imagine what that feels like but I am sure that those sailors on duty will never forget this experience.