10 sailors missing after Japan-based U.S. Navy destroyer and merchant ship collide near Singapore

.....what?!?! It's almost too much of a coincidence.

This is just strange, I can only say that I believe that the Navy has become more lax in their discipline and training. I also believe that the attention span of most young people has fallen, as this quote below states.

According to scientists, the age of smartphones has left humans with such a short attention span even a goldfish can hold a thought for longer. ... The results showed the average human attention span has fallen from 12 seconds in 2000, or around the time the mobile revolution began, to eight seconds.

They need to ban all cell phones and tablets at sea!

This is just strange, I can only say that I believe that the Navy has become more lax in their discipline and training. I also believe that the attention span of most young people has fallen, as this quote below states.

Considering the circumstances surrounding the accident are unknown what makes you say that?

Another radar failure.

Cue the Abott and Costello cascade of fumbling errors theory to cover it up.

Um seems those involved in the June accident will all punished severely and nothing was covered up. Why would you say that?

Seriously the facts are not know and the speculation train is already running rampant here. How about we wait until there are some more information before saying its someones fault or a cover up is going to happen.

Those straights are one of the most heavy traffic sea lanes on earth and are always crowded with ships there are tons of reasons this accident may have happened and I am sure more information is coming shortly.

nothing was covered up. 

uh? the innocent philippine crew was detained and interrogated by J police. not a nice experience.

no information on how it happened, but warships carrying missiles should care about preventing accidents.

@thePbot, the coincidence being how newsworthy McCain has been this year with his voting stance and health issues, and then a boat named for him making world news too? Sadly, he seems to be sayimg his goodbyes, meeting old allies like Graham and Lieberman in AZ yesterday. Cool picture of them wading waist deep in the water.

Considering the circumstances surrounding the accident are unknown what makes you say that?

As a Navy Vet, I can tell you that when an accident happens, you are all put on notice and everyone is extra careful in anything they do, for awhile at least. This being so soon after the Fitzgerald, it just seems odd is all!

I also did not lay blame on anyone, I was making an observation, and stating my opinion. This is a comment section, not a investigating panel, so I believe we are allowed to do that.

We can shoot down incoming missiles and aircraft from god knows how many miles away but can't spot a 600' tanker a mile away. WTF

The real tragedy here is the 10 missing sailors. Apportioning the blame can wait until the collision has been properly investigated.

No Joking matter...

Apparently this incident may be even worse that the Yokosuka/Yokohama one. Just coincidence, declining US navy standards or is someone using some kind of new weapon on them?

the coincidence being how newsworthy McCain has been this year with his voting stance and health issues, and then a boat named for him making world news too? 

It was named for his father.

Why are the actual sailors never shown who did this and only the captain punished? That's an easy way out for the sailors.

So, the captain should have been more STRICT?

This is why there is so little personal responsibility by individuals.

You can always blame the boss.

Leila26, In the Navy the Captain is ultimately responsible for the actions of all of those under his or her command.

@Leila26

Many people were punished, but they only gave the names of the CO, XO, and command MCPO.

It is the job of the CO to make sure his ship and crew are trained and equipped to do their job, the XO is more of an administrative job, and his is the go between of the CO and department heads.

In the End the CO must take full responsibility for anything that happens on his ship!

The CO should have made sure his crew was properly trained to deal with any situation, because if they fail, he failed.

Seriously? and Japan based US ship again?

What are they smoking to crash into tankers every time... I think its current arrogance in US army, they think people will make way or even trying to spend extra repair cash... or trying to avoid service in near future for some reason?

@Lizz, that makes more sense--now I seem to remember hearing both son and dad served during the Vietnam era, though the son's heroism as a POW survivor really outshines anything us laypeople know anout his dad.

The Trump military in action. Putin is laughing right now.

uh? the innocent philippine crew was detained and interrogated by J police. not a nice experience.

Wow, talked about biased. They were indeed detained, and were only found to be innocent AFTER a complete investigation was completed. Sounds to me that you decided who was guilty prior to the investigation was complete.

Oh and how do you know they were interrogated? Yes they were questioned, and rightfully so, and how do YOU know its not a nice experience? Talking from personal knowledge?

"I wanted if he"--you might want to look into some state of the art Electronic Spellcheck while you're at it.

I have only been on submarines, however this is still sad to see. This might have been a machanical problem.

How is this possible again with Singapore and the US navy, something dodgy is going on

This sort of thing usually doesn't happen twice in 10 years. Now it's happened twice in 2 months.

Wow! Heads (rightfully) are going to roll again.

Could it be on purpose. Did the Chinese ask these captains of the container ships to ram the cruisers in an effort to limit the American presence of the South China Sea? Just spit balling here. It does seem like an unusual coincidence. Both the Philippines and Liberia are motivated partners working new trade agreements with China.

Maybe there is a radar issue?

This all started in February with USS Antietam, then the USS Fitzgerald, and now the USS McCain.

The latest accident does not seem to be the Navy's fault, as it was hit on the port side and was in a very hard to navigate area, but as a whole their seems to be a lack of readiness in the Navy these days, I have read a few post today from a few higher ranking enlisted, and from a few Vets who all say the Navy is more concerned with feelings these days rather than actual readiness. I think we need to go back to the old Navy's way of getting things done! But that might ruffle one too many feathers!

Again?

And these are the "powerful" US Navy, who can't even pilot a ship, Japan needs to pay for and depend on. These "wonderful" sailors will be fighting on behalf of Japan! Will they even know whom to shoot at?

It was named for his father.

Actually, the ship was named after Sen. McCain’s father, John S. McCain, Jr. and Sen. McCain’s grandfather; John S. McCain, Sr.  Both were Navy admirals.

@roughneck

11/09/88: The USS Towers (DDG-9) narrowly misses a Japanese helicopter patrol boat with a volley of exercise shells, while exercising off the Boso Peninsula southeast of Tokyo Bay, resulting in a political incident with the Japanese.

I sense a disturbance in the force and it leads me to believe that the dragon in the east has perfected a directional EMP weapon I heard this need confirmation that the Fitzgerald radar and other electronic detection gear went down minutes before impact. If this is so post reference.

Two in tow months.... is the some new nefarious Russian or Chinese jamming device out there.

Makes me wonder.

Is the U.S. Navy collectively overextended or not training well enough? I wouldn't think so, the U.S. Navy is the best in the world. But, it does raise questions about training and application of that training.

First, you have the small boats getting caught by the Iranian Revolutionary guard because the sailors were off course. Finding, poor seamanship.

Second, a Navy report on the crash of the Fitzgerald was just released citing poor seamanship and lack of situational awareness.

Third, now this incident. Poor seamanship?

Oh, I forgot about the U.S. sub that surfaced underneath a Japanese vessel. . . . What was the findings in that case? Probably a lot of the same, and a need to change surfacing procedures.

They need to ban all cell phones and tablets at sea!

The Marines are banning cell phone in the field to make Marines focus on their mission and to decrease the SignInt for the OpFor. Probably not popular, but it is the right thing to do.

Cell phones are very helpful, but they do make us dumber. Why remember when you have Google?

Agree also that sailors would normally take extra care after the Fitzgerald crashed.

This is why there is so little personal responsibility by individuals.

You can always blame the boss.

It would be a leadership problem the other way around, i.e., if the boss gets off and the lower level guys get all the blame.

The sailors who failed in their duty will be punished too.

Leaders seek responsibility.

Two ships from the same destroyer squadron to me indicates a lack of training. By that I mean the qualification process leaves much to be desired. Obtaining the Surface Warfare Officer (SWO) pin used to be a difficult endeavor. It sometime took up to two years, and not every junior officer received it. Those that did absolutely knew their stuff.

In today's Navy a captain's Fitness Report can be affected by the number of Sailors (officer and enlisted) under his command obtaining the mandatory qualifications. Such a circumstance, I think, leads to quals be more easily obtained than they were in the past. It has become more important to the Navy to have its people look good on paper than to be knowledgeable in their job.

I am also surprised that this happened in the Straights of Malacca. Granted, they are the most tightly congested sea lanes in the world so there are more chances for things to go wrong. The corollary to that would be a ship's crew, civilian or military, would be on their toes. I remember in my Marine days travelling through there on the USS Tarawa. Some of us Marines would stand security watches manning .50cal guns. It was hair raising enough during the day. Close to dusk like the McCain was . . . . "that's too bad"

This is a clear indication of one of two possibilities

1) The US military is deliberately demonstrating incompetency as a psyop to the world, in preparation for war with North Korea and China. In this situation their actual abilities are far higher than we are led to believe from the idiocy of having two collisions in the span of a few months.

2) The US navy has become completely incompetent and needs an extreme shakeup to permanently exterminate the kind of IDIOTS who allow accidents like this to happen in clear weather conditions, be it day or night. This is NOT acceptable and everyone on that ship ought to be god damned ashamed of themselves.

SaikoPsycho,

is the some new nefarious Russian or Chinese jamming device out there.

Nah! Just incompetence.

@Burning Bush - interesting conspiracy theory, if it's true, then whoever is carrying out this activity could be deemed as carrying our an "Act of War" against the US... Has NK got the tech from Russia ? Or is it China now ?

Actually, the ship was named after Sen. McCain’s father, John S. McCain, Jr. and Sen. McCain’s grandfather; John S. McCain, Sr. Both were Navy admirals.

Yes, you are right. Admiral John Sidney McCain I was a WWII Admiral in the Pacific.

Admiral John Sidney McCain II was Commander of all US forces in Vietnam from 1968-1972.

though the son's heroism as a POW survivor really outshines anything us laypeople know anout his dad.

Yeah, that and his stunts on the USS Forrestal.

Oh, I forgot about the U.S. sub that surfaced underneath a Japanese vessel. . . .

Are you talking about the Ehime Maru incident ? IIRC that was the case of a Commanding Officer showing off for some VIP guests (Congresspeople) and not taking proper protocol. The Fitzgerald and McCain accidents along with that ship running aground in Tokyo Bay a few months back seem to have more to do with GPS navigation systems being jammed or the like. If this were just random poor seamanship you wouldn't see it all in the same close proximity using same GPS satellite technology.

Even if all technology failed, sailors still have eyes and binoculars. No mention of heavy fog.

What was the weather like at the time?

I'd like to know how the commercial ship suffered damage 7 meters above her waterline, and the US Navy's ship suffered damage ON her waterline. Something's upside-down, here.