A pair of Navy investigations has found multiple failures contributed to two separate accidents at sea in which two U.S. guided-missile destroyers collided with commercial shipping vessels, the Navy said Wednesday.
The results of both investigations revealed sub-standard performance by both crews and commanders in the accidents this summer.
“Both of these accidents were preventable and the respective investigations found multiple failures by watch standers that contributed to the incidents,” said the Navy’s top officer Adm. John Richardson, the chief of operations, in a statement. “We must do better.”
The Navy report details the events that led to the collision of USS Fitzgerald with the ACX Crystal off the coast of Japan June 17, as well as the collision of USS John S. McCain and merchant vessel Alnic MC Aug. 21.
The results of both accidents were briefed to members of Congress on Tuesday, along with a description of planned corrective actions.
“Congress must provide the necessary resources in a timely and predictable manner,” said Armed Services Committee Chairman Sen. John McCain. “The failure to properly fund, train, and equip our military directly contributed to these collisions.”
Specifically the report attributed the collision of the USS Fitzgerald to an accumulation of smaller errors over time, ultimately resulting in a lack of adherence to sound navigational practices.
It found the 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.”
According to investigators the Fitzgerald crew displayed a lack of basic seamanship and its commanders “possessed an unsatisfactory level of knowledge” of the International Rules of the Nautical Road, according to investigators.
Specifically the investigation found the Fitzgerald was going too fast, failed to take evasive action, didn’t notify other ships of the danger, and shockingly posted lookouts only on the port side of the ship, not on the starboard side where the three ships were present with risk of collision.
With regard to the USS John S. McCain, Navy investigators blamed “complacency, over-confidence and lack of procedural compliance.”
“A major contributing factor to the collision was sub-standard level of knowledge regarding the operation of the ship control console,” the report said.
“In particular, McCain’s commanding officer disregarded recommendations from his executive officer, navigator and senior watch officer to set sea and anchor watch teams in a timely fashion to ensure the safe and effective operation of the ship.’
The USS McCain is named for the father and grandfather of Sen. John McCain, who said Tuesday his committee will continue to conduct close oversight of the Navy’s efforts to correct deficiencies in order to ensure tragedies such as these do not happen again.
In the case of the both Fitzgerald and McCain the report found there was no single factor or person to blame for the accidents.
“Many of the decisions made that led to this incident were the result of poor judgment and decision making of the Commanding Officer,” the report concluded using identical language in both cases.
“That said, no single person bears full responsibility for this incident. The crew was unprepared for the situation in which they found themselves through a lack of preparation, ineffective command and control, and deficiencies in training and preparations for navigation.”
“In the Navy, the responsibility of the Commanding Officer for his or her ship is absolute,” the report said in its findings, saying the Navy is not concerned about the mistakes made by the commercial vessels.
