US Destroyer Destroyed by Japanese Container Ship Manned by Filipino Crew

The USS Fitzgerald, a guided missile destroyer of the 7th Fleet, misguided itself into the path of the Philippine-registered Japanese container ship, manned by Filipino seamen. Said mishap occurred at about 02:30 local time on 17 June 2017, due to “fogging” off the east coast of Japan.
The seven US navy sailors missing have been confirmed dead.
There was flooding in a portion of the Fitzgerald, officials said, as the ship was towed to the U.S. naval base in Yokosuka escorted by a Japanese coast guard ship.




The Fitzgerald, an Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer, was commissioned in 1995 and was originally based in San Diego, California. It was deployed in a carrier strike group that assisted the war in Iraq in 2003.
The Fitzgerald changed its home port to Yokosuka in 2004 as part of a deployment “to counter ballistic missile threats worldwide”, according to the official history. In November 2011, the then US secretary of state Hillary Clinton met the Philippine foreign affairs secretary, Albert del Rosario, onboard the ship to sign the Manila declaration backing multilateral talks to resolve maritime disputes [read: UNCLOS provocation vs. China].
Rear-admiral Charles Williams, commander of the naval taskforce in the area, said:

“I want to highlight the extraordinary courage of the Fitzgerald sailors who contained the flooding, stabilised the ship, and sailed her back to Yokosuka despite the exceptionally trying circumstances.”

Most of the Fitzgerald crew were said to be deep asleep during the time of the accident.
Recently, the Fitzgerald had been active in Japanese waters to monitor the Korean peninsula following a series of ballistic missile launches by North Korea. It also took part in relief efforts after the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan.

The damage of Philippine-registered container ship ACX Crystal. Photograph: Iori Sagisawa/AP
The damage of Philippine-registered container ship ACX Crystal. Photograph: Iori Sagisawa/AP

At about 29,000 tons displacement, the container ship is more than three times the size of the 8,315-ton Fitzgerald, and was carrying 1,080 containers from the central Japanese port of Nagoya to Tokyo.

USS Fitzgerald location map.
USS Fitzgerald location map.

For their own incompetence and lapses they are now exploring how they could put the blame on the lesser men.

Japan’s coastguard and the US navy plan to question crew members from the ACX Crystal, and could treat the collision as a possible case of endangerment of traffic caused by professional negligence, Kyodo news said.

The BBC has also highlighted the “unexplained U-turn” of the ACX Crystal, without ascertaining the actual location of the US destroyer as it is not publicly available, and whether the change was in the aftermath of the collision.

The ACX Crystal appeared to make a U-turn before the collision, before rapidly adjusting course and setting off to Tokyo
According to BBC, the ACX Crystal appeared to make a U-turn before the collision, before rapidly adjusting course and setting off to Tokyo.

However, Filipino seamen are trained not to ignore any emergency situation — that might be the reason why they returned to the area where the collision happened, after they have assessed that it was safe to do so.

  • http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-40314128

However, this is not the first time when a super advanced US destroyer failed to ascertain its own location on the planet.

The USS Guardian ran aground within the World Heritage-listed Tubbataha coral reef, after its crew failed to heed the multiple radio and visual warnings from Philippine authorities.
The USS Guardian ran aground within the World Heritage-listed Tubbataha coral reef, after its crew failed to heed the multiple radio and visual warnings from Philippine authorities.

In January 2013, the USS Guardian rammed into and got stranded in the Tubbataha Reef Marine Park after reportedly ignoring warnings from park rangers, causing damage to over 2,300 square miles of the park. The ship remained stuck in the reef for over two months, and had to be cut into pieces to be extricated.

  • https://geopolitics.co/2015/02/19/us-pays-out-peanuts-for-eco-crime-committed-in-philippines/

Whatever the case may be, no naval ship could lay blame on any commercial vessel due to the former’s availability to go stealth from commercial radars.

11 thoughts on “US Destroyer Destroyed by Japanese Container Ship Manned by Filipino Crew”

  1. I call BS on this story! (LAUGH!!!)…What was probably more likely is that there was another attempt to create ANOTHER “Gulf of Tonkin” event as an excuse to start WW3 and it was STOP in it’s tracks…By YOU KNOW WHO.
    There is a hurricane of BS ongoing now via the “Deep State (Deep-Chit)” and are desperately trying to hold on to power/control of their “Money System”.

  2. The Acx Crystal is a Maersk Line container ship, but no Bill of Lading has been found on the Internet that would reveal the contents of the containers. The containers in the Acx Crystal may contain anything that could be trafficked for profit, including contraband.

  3. An advanced Naval warship with no collision avoidance system, no active radar? I also call BS on this “accident”.

  4. BS is correct!
    Russian electronics could scramble the US garbage software ( Windows based Microsoftcrap). Philippine? Crew of test pilots showing Trump how easy it is to smack around the ignorant bully.

  5. Bullshit. Just look at the friggin photos. The destroyer was on the left (damaged right) and the container ship was on the right (damaged left). Container ship was on their right and as a rule (crossing paths), the frigate should have let it pass in front of them. Its hard to imagine this isn’t the navy’s fault. The destroyer was probably trying to outrun the container ship as a last-ditch effort to avoid a collision.
    Also, container ship with that size would take minutes to alter its course. Unlike an agile frigate which also happens to be armed with the most advanced navigation/detection instruments. The captain of the frigate will need one hell of a ‘story’ to get away with this.

    1. Weird as this may sound, but Asian seafarers are suspicious. Ships will stir-up the phosphorous leaving a visible trail for miles. They fear going into the “dragons tail” and will do everything to pass in front of another vessel, thus the cargo vessel may have turned into the path of the destroyer (to avoid the dragons tail). That does not exonerate the OOD or Captain of the destroyer. There are “approach avoidance” procedures (rules of the road) that the destroyer should have implemented well before impact, and I suspect they had plenty of time to decide. They didn’t.

  6. This “Incident” also helps keep the stock markets alive too…at least the “Military Industrial complex” part of it. Also a possible reason to justify “Intervention” in the “Clean-Up” of ISIS ongoing in the Philippines! (Chuckle!!!)

  7. IF…one understands the the KIND of technology THAT ship (Navy ship) has at it’s desposal …especially being in the area it was located in…a collision would have been impossible between those ships!
    The odds of that cargo ship ramming a destroyer type would be as rediculous as it trying to ram a speed boat!
    When looked at from THAT, perspective only ONE conclusion is left…The collision was “Deliberate”…Planned the executed for SOME reason, probably NEVER to be disclosed…to the “Sheeple at least.

    1. A destroyer with that horsepower capability can stop from full speed to full stop within the length of its hull. And the hit was on the destroyers starboard side and that means no excuses.

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