Lawsuits detail deadly U.S. Navy collision off Japan's coast

"Lawsuits detail deadly U.S. Navy collision off Japan's coast" gives the impression that the Navy was at fault. "Contain Ship Collision with U.S. Navy Vessel Detailed in Lawsuit" may have been a better alternative.

Titles matter, particularly to the surviving crew members of the stricken ship.

how can this be? The Navy dropped all criminal charges against the commanding officer of the ship, as well at two other junior officers. One other junior officer pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of dereliction of duty.

The title in this article is very misleading and should be reworded as mentioned in prior posts. This only adds smoke to where there is no fire by Japan Today and could be viewed as anti US vs reporting and possibly indicative of a hate crime. In the article it states the Navy found no fault against its personnel with the exception of 1.

One other junior officer pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of dereliction of duty.

Which is and of itself enough to end his career! Sad that those above him got off!

and Trump is demanding 8 billion for this kind of protection.

Seriously doubt this will go far. NYK's Protection & Indemnity Club insurers will answer and fight this claim. My heart goes out to the surviving families but this reeks of typical lawyer antics knowing that they'd get nowhere suing the US Navy, so go after the other party.

And, once again the U.S. military absolves itself of any serious responsibility for this accident and shifts the onus of blame onto the cargo ship crew.

How typical.

This is from the official US NAVY report on the collision between, USS Fitzgerald and the ACX Crystal

USS FITZGERALD

The collision between Fitzgerald and Crystal was avoidable and resulted from an accumulation of smaller errors over time, ultimately resulting in a lack of adherence to sound navigational practices. Specifically, Fitzgerald's watch teams disregarded established norms of basic contact management and, more importantly, leadership failed to adhere to well-established protocols put in place to prevent collisions. In addition, the ship's triad was absent during an evolution where their experience, guidance and example would have greatly benefited the ship.

https://www.navy.mil/submit/display.asp?story_id=103130

Gary