An American guided-missile destroyer was gashed and dented on one side in a collision with an oil tanker early Sunday just outside the strategic Strait of Hormuz.
The collision tore a hole about 10 feet by 10 feet in the right side of the destroyer, the Porter, above the water line. No one on the Porter or the other vessel, a Japanese-owned bulk oil carrier called the Otowasan, was hurt, the Navy said in a statement.
The Navy said that the collision, which happened about 1 a.m., was not “combat related”…
The extent of damage to the Otowasan was not known, but Reuters, citing an Omani coast guard official, reported that the ship was able to go on its way. Its scheduled destination was Fujairah, in the United Arab Emirates just outside the strait, Reuters said, citing ship tracking Web sites. The Navy said there were no reported spills or leaks from either vessel.
One-fifth of the world’s crude oil is shipped through the Strait of Hormuz, a crowded and tense waterway at the entrance to the Persian Gulf between Iran and Oman. Iran has often threatened to block tanker traffic in retaliation for Western sanctions over its nuclear program, and the United States maintains a strong naval presence in the region in part to ensure that the strait remains open.
Understand that “crowded” means that at its narrowest, the Strait is 42 kilometers wide. About 14 tankers of this size pass through daily – and they move at about half the speed of an American destroyer. Because of their mass – even unladen – they are much less maneuverable than a warship like the Porter.
You could make a ship like the Porter dance circles around the Otowasan.
Those crazy Japanese drivers. Probably driving .05 knots with their blinker on all the way across the strait.
LOL, was going to make the comment, but you got there first.
Wonder if it was a female officer driving the Japanese ship?
An old Japanese woman who couldn’t see over the helm.
Add ageism .
Racism and sexism in the first two responses. Guess I’m out.
you can still get in. Maybe theism, antisemitism, or aqautisism.
Working on it right now….LOL
antibuddhismism.
You will be back ; )
There goes another skipper relieved of command, and on to early retirement.
At 80% of his final pay grade.
Assuming that multimillion dollar warships would have the same kind of collision avoidance/warning systems found in some modern cars I’d say the person piloting the American ship was most likely watching porn or something. Whatever they were doing they weren’t doing their job.
This is exactly what I have hard time explaining to my wife… She sees the size of the Gulf and Strait of Hormuz on the map and thinks it is easy to control it with large warships, thinks that Iran has no chance of obstructing it. What she fails to grasp (and no one is media is talking about) is that actual shipping lanes capable of support of large vessels is just about 2 miles wide. Add weather and currents and place in huge ships that maneuver as icebergs and it becomes a surprise that something like this is not a daily occurrence. And this is exactly what Iran can do intentionally to mess up traffic there (US warship involved #NoAgenda theorizing – maybe they indeed set this up).
Based on the media reaction to the Chinese plane hitting the AWACS, this is clearly the fault of the slower moving Japanese tanker.
There is something wrong with this story..
Also, an OIL TANKER IS HUGE.. even with out cargo..They take up TONS of space.
There are PATHS/ROADS to follow in the straits..
The USA ship was either IN THE WAY or the other ship was FLOATING..
The ocean is big.
The Japanese tanker is big.
The destroyer is big.
Nobody saw the other ship approaching?
Nobody thought to say, ‘Hey Cap’n, there is a ship coming at us.’
The japanese ship was a Toyota, and the gas pedal was stuck under the carpet.
lol :0)
Asking my father-in law (retired Navy):
“Destroyer usually sits on the picket line. Their job is to not move…Why should they? They have the guns…”
When I asked but why not move in this case?
“Game of chicken?”
It will all come out in the collision review (mandatory).
What is this going to do to insurance rates for the oil industry? You do not need to block the gulf, just make it unsafe enough to scare the insurance companies and the straight in closed, de facto.
The tanker is Japanese owned, but Panamanian-flagged.
“Road Hog!”
literally “mushroom with sliced chicken”
seems to me the warship is at fault. the tanker would have seen a green light on the starboard side of the warship giving him the right of way. the warship should have seen a red light on the port side of the tanker. the warship was damaged on its starboard side. just like a car at a four way intersection, the guy on the right has the right of way..
And then of course, there’s that radar thingy.
Law of the sea says the burdened vessel has the right of way. Hitting the brakes will still take the tanker a mile to stop.
Let’s not forget all those seaman standing on the bridge with those high-dollar binoculars. That’s what I always assumed “standing watch” meant.
The article says the collision occurred at 1 am so the Captain may not have been on the bridge, but his career will suffer because it was his ship. I don’t think there is a bigger black mark in the US Navy than having your ship damaged in an accident.
Yes I can attest, as a former “watch stander” you are correct. But a sailor on the bow with binoculars peering into the mist is old school, like when I was a sailor, it’s really a formality in this tech age.
As for the Captain, yeah he would have been in his quarters, The XO would have been in charge and this was probably no accident.
Look at Google maps. If you were to start between Dubai and Abu Dhabi and headed just slightly southeast, you could cut a new canal to aid traffic. Fuck conventional construction, it’s all a sand pile anyway. A few hundred 10 Megaton nukes, precisely targeted and you could have the main channel cut in a day.
You could even make your way through the new canal at might, lit by the radioactive green glow from the glass and coarse sand; as your testicles retreated into your stomach in a futile attempt to restrict your progeny to the genically accepted number of limbs.
As someone stated: “Assuming that a multimillion dollar warships would have the same kind of collision avoidance/warning systems”
Yes, it’s call alert sailors and officers manning 4 hr watches, 24/7 every day; even at 1 a.m. local time when this happened.
The Navy doesn’t need nor want it’s people relying on some “stinking” avoidance/warning systems found in some modern cars!
It is the responsibility of the Captain that his/her warship always has enough alert and very well qualified, trained personnel to operate the ship properly and safely, even if in harms way or peace time.
I doubt the ship had a valid reason to maneuver in close with a Japanese Oil Tanker; such as “shouldering”, a banned training maneuver designed to protect a highly valuable ship, such as an aircraft carrier against a fleet threat.
Unless there is some valid reason, where the captain is not taking any unnecessary risks with the ship or crew that stands up under tight scrutiny of a Naval Accident Investigators Tribunal, this Captain is toast, regardless of the actions of his/her crew or unforeseen cause! In the Navy, the buck stops with the Captain for good or bad!
The USS Porter (DDG 78) is an Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer, which is very agile. The ship has reversible variable-pitch screws that can emergency stop at full speed within her own length.
Something is obviously outside of the norm here!
In the Persian Gulf, the Navy has people stationed in constant communication with binoculars, out on deck, on the bridge wings, on the bridge and a ship wide roving patrol keeping a visual look out for small fishing boats approaching (especially after the USS Cole bombing!). You also have people manning the surface navigation radars. Between the multiple and various ALERT watches, on radar, the visual watches on the bridge and bridge wings; it’s hard to understand how this was an unforeseen accident!
The Navy doesn’t tolerate people like today’s jokers we call leaders in Business or Politics. The Captain can’t hide behind “I didn’t know” or it’s someone’s else fault.
It the tough way our Navy rolls! Even if someone was asleep, it’s still the Captains fault!
Of course the watch doesn’t get away with misbehavior either.
Punitive Articles of the UCMJ
Article 113—Misbehavior of sentinel or lookout:
“Any sentinel or look-out who is found drunk or sleeping upon his post, or leaves it before he is regularly relieved, shall be punished, if the offense is committed in time of war, by death.”
Lucky for a misbehaving sentinel, if there is one in this case, that we are not at declared WAR.
I found this interesting story from April this year ,about Iranian oil tankers cloaking their supply routes. Even if the tanker did turn off it’s running lights, the USS Porter has very sophisticated navigation radars to track virtually any ships with.
The only reason “I can think of” why a Captain would maneuver dangerously close with an Oil Tanker underway, would be; either to use the larger ship to screen itself from Iranian radar, or; to intimidate the Oil Tanker to stop for search, short of firing and disabling it’s rudder (which is very risky, if the Oil Tanker is full of flammable liquids and has a uncooperative captain).
As eca and noname pointed out this seems fishy with what is going on geopolitically
Engines at stationkeeping (or whaever term you prefer), ship at anchor, tanker speed, range of radar if operating (or not depending on orders), look-outs on duty, lighting on ships, weather conditions, phase of moon. This is one report I will look to read.
Here is a web site with links to weather and photos. Also AIS data of the tanker.
Forgot the link to above comment, oops.
Here ya go.
http://maritimesecurity.asia/free-2/maritime-security-asia/collision-in-the-strait-of-hormuz/
Talk about disturbing! Here we are worried that the US Navy might not be able to detect a small high speed powerboat with terrorists coming towards it. Turns out they can’t even spot a super tanker going super slow. I guess this proves that having millions of dollars worth of radar and detection equipment doesn’t help when there no one is at the helm. What a disgrace.
Amen!
Whenever I’d go to some computer trade show. Invariably some Asian (probably Korean) would stand in front of me, to keep me from seeing or buying some low cost item. They’re very pushy and rude. So reading that a Japanese tank crashed into a warship. Makes me wonder if this isn’t just more of the same tactic? Crash now, apologize later. But they get what they wanted, in the end.
Generally Asians consider the South Koreans more rude relative Japanese, Vietnamese, Philippines, Chinese or … . I guess, because South Koreans have intermixed longer in American ruthless business cultural values with their native cultural values over the decades since the Korean War then the other Asian countries.
With China new found westernized business culture and rising standards of living and recent Chinese saber rattling over competing claims in the South China Sea; it will be intrusting to see how Asians relative self-views pans out over time.
Put your little dingy in front a large barge and find out if it actually can stop in time. In fact the tanker probably hit the reverse long before already or they would have totally run over and sunk the destroyer.
Japanese run their trains, plains, vessels and whatever almost like military operations and very disciplined. Unlinke some stupid american sailors who put their ‘dingy’ destroyer in front of a ‘barge’ oiltanker.
Use an expensive oiltanker to sink a destroyer? Get real please. Also racist comments based on nothing factual are easy, but also rather stupid. But that is exactly what your government expects you to do instead of paying attention to the real problems. (Like why the f are those destroyers and lots of other expensive war ‘toys’ overthere in the first place?)
If they already manage to not notice a giant oiltanker, it makes you wonder if they can actually see any missiles at all. Or are the oiltankers the actual missiles they try to destroy? There must be a better way for that.
While the taxpayer is already wasting lots of money on these destroyers in places where they should not be in the first place, they will now also pay for the costly repairs. Anyone getting fired for these stupid mistakes? I think not …!
Anyone getting fired for these stupid mistakes? I think not …!
I don’t think you understand the Navy, it’s not a civilian game for them!
Not fired exactly but relieve; not the same but darn close.
Very likely the Navy will relieve the commanding officer of his position, due to lost confidence in his abilities after his ship collided with a tanker at sea.
Almost without exception, Captains are relieved after a collision.
They are probably moved into some job they can’t do much harm anymore. But they still get paid nicely with your taxdollars. If a commercial captain causes a major crash, they are simply fired (and probably never find a job as captain again). So because this is “the Navy”, it’s suddenly good to keep paying them? You just proved these very strange believes by sort of ‘defending’ it.
Simply put, you don’t know your ass from a “dingy”. You are simply ignorant!
It’s your kind of ignorance that has our country where it is, all answers and no clue!
http://marinetraffic.com/ais/default.aspx?zoom=9&oldmmsi=371687000&olddate=8/11/2012%201:00:00%20PM
the path of the oil tanker.