Maritime safety

Top US Navy commander in Japan over destroyer crash

The US Navy's top commander visited Japan Tuesday to meet with the grieving families of seven sailors killed in a weekend accident, as investigators continue their probe into the cause of the collision with a container ship.

Admiral John Richardson arrived at the US naval base in Yokosuka on the outskirts of Tokyo to meet with bereaved families and officers who served on the USS Fitzgerald, said Commander Ron Flanders, press officer at the US Naval Forces in Japan.

"It's an intimate meeting, very solemn grieving with families so we're not even taking photos," he told AFP.

The navy destroyer was badly damaged in the collision with a Philippine-flagged cargo ship off the Japanese coast early Saturday.

The bodies of the US sailors were found in flooded sleeping berths a day after the accident which tore a huge gash in the side of the warship.

Maritime safety

Huge cargo ship disappears in South Atlantic with 22 crew members on board

A huge cargo ship has vanished in the South Atlantic while carrying 22 people on board.

The South Korean vessel has sparked a search operation after disappearing in unknown circumstances.

The Stellar Daisy was sailing from Brazil to China when it sent out a distress signal on Friday.

A message received by the ship operator said it was taking in water on the port side and listing rapidly.

Two people were found in a life raft and rescued but other lifeboats and rafts found in the area were empty.

Maritime safety

US Navy Spy Ship Forced to Change Course After Iranian Attack Vessels Approach

The USNS Invincible, escorted by the British Royal Navy, experienced a close encounter with high-speed attack ships deployed by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, ultimately compelling the US spy ship and her formation to alter her course.

The Invincible, while transiting the Strait of Hormuz, which the US Energy Information Agency calls "the world’s most important oil chokepoint," was approached by "multiple" Iranian Revolutionary Guard (IRG) fast-attack ships. When the IRG ships were within 600 yards of the naval formation, they halted their advance, a US official said on Monday. 

Maritime safety

5 Takeaways on China's Theft of a US Drone in Philippine Waters in the South China Sea

The glider-seizure was illegal by any measure of international law. International legal experts and South China Sea watchers Julian Ku and James Kraska have already offered two excellent looks at this aspect of the incident at Lawfare. In short, the behavior that the Chinese rescue ship engaged in was not only highly unprofessional, it was an illegal seizure of a U.S. vessel in violation of sovereign immunity. Moreover, the Chinese vessel violated high seas freedoms of the USNS Bowditch under the United Nations Convention on the Law of Sea — a treaty China has signed and ratified.

The legal aspect of this incident cannot be overemphasized given that it comes less than six months after China faced legal defeat at the hands of a five-judge tribunal at the Permanent Court of Arbitration over its capacious claims in the South China Sea and its behavior therein. Unfortunately, given the change in government in the Philippines — the once-enthusiastic plaintiff in that case — the reputational costs that had been anticipated for Beijing for being found in transgression of international law never quite materialized.

Maritime safety

U.S. Navy Nuclear Submarines Are So Strong One Smashed into an Underwater Mountain and Survived

In 2005, a U.S. Navy attack submarine collided head-on with an undersea mountain at more than thirty miles an hour. Despite the damage the ship sustained and the crew’s injuries, the USS San Francisco managed to limp to her home port of Guam on her own power. The incident was a testament to the design of the submarine and the training and professionalism of her crew.

USS San Francisco is a Los Angeles-class nuclear attack submarine. Submarine builder Newport News Shipyard began construction on her in 1977, and she was commissioned on April 24, 1981. The submarine joined the U.S. Pacific Fleet and served there throughout her career.

Like all Los Angeles subs, she displaced 6,900 tons submerged, was 362 feet long, and had a beam of 33 feet. A General Electric PWR S6G nuclear reactor provided 35 thousand shipboard horsepower, driving the submarine to a speedy 33 knots. A typical crew consisted of 129 officers and enlisted men.

Maritime safety

In 2009, Two Nuclear Submarines Collided Under the Sea (And They Were Armed with Nuclear Weapons)

Late at night on February 3, 2009 the crew of the French nuclear submarine Triomphant, experienced something of a shock. The 138-meter-long submarine, the lead boat of four serving today as a key part of France’s nuclear strike force, was returning to port submerged under the heavy seas of the East Atlantic when something impacted violently upon its bow and sail.

On February 6 the French Ministry of Defense reported that the submarine had suffered a collision with an “an immersed object (probably a container).” The same day the Triomphant returned to its base in Ile Longue, Brest escorted by a frigate.

Curiously, the HMS Vanguard, a Vigilant-class British Royal Navy nuclear submarine also experienced a collision that evening. The first of her class, the Vanguard measures 150 meters long and displaces 16,900 tons when submerged.

Maritime safety

Spain demands explanation over collision of UK Navy sub

Spain is seeking an urgent explanation from British authorities after a Royal Navy submarine was forced into port in Gibraltar following a collision with a merchant vessel.

In a statement Thursday, the Foreign Ministry said the government was seeking all information from the British embassy in Madrid regarding the damage done to the submarine and how the prior day's incident occurred.

The British Royal Navy said HMS Ambush's nuclear reactor was not damaged in the incident when the Astute-class submarine became "involved in a glancing collision with a merchant vessel" while submerged and conducting a training exercise.

It added that the vessel suffered some external damage but that no crewmembers were hurt.