USS Fitzgerald

[Merle]

With every man and his sea-dog being able to afford a basic radar for their fishing boats and pleasure cruisers these days, something was seriously amiss, if nobody on a a vessel of that class spotted, electronically, a thing the size of that commercial ship. Even were it swanning about erratically and being VERY illegal and running without lights, unlike the Fitzgerald.

The RAN has the dubious honour of more post-WW2 sinkings BY an aircraft carrier than any other navy.

HMAS Melbourne collided with and sank, the RAN Daring Class destroyer, HMAS Voyager in 1964, with the loss of 14 officers, including the commanding officer, 67 sailors and one civilian dockyard employee. This happened whilst on an exercise about 20 NM from Jervis Bay.

After repairs, Melbourne went to sea without much happening until 3 June 1969. Melbourne struck the USS Frank E. Evans as she crossed her bows in the the South China Sea. The destroyer was cut in two, with the bow section sinking rapidly. 74 sailors and officers were lost.

One of the handful of survivors from the bow section was transferred to my ship. He was still a nervous wreck, and shortly thereafter went to shore duty.

[painter777]

Heard on TV news, but can't find an article, that the Fitzgerald's Radio/Communications center was knocked out. SAT phones were used to call it in.
Read that Jap officials say the investigation could take 2 years.

CH-P777

[RASelkirk]

Here's a good write-up, the reporting time discrepancy of over ONE hour is quite disconcerting...

Russ

[Eaglelord17]

The one hour difference in time could be explained due to the fact Japan doesn't follow Daylight Savings Time. If we were currently running on standard time (like Japan is) the time would have been at 2:30. Both are technically right, just depends on how you look at the clock.

[Bruce_in_Oz]

The Naval types would also be reporting the "Time Zone" in their messages. This is usually carried in what is known as a "Date-Time" group.

These are six digits followed by a letter code.

Date is listed first, eg. 21, then the time, in 24hour form, followed by a three-letter month abbreviation and usually has, at the end, either "Z", signifying GMT / UST , or another letter that corresponds to "local" time. "K" is the code for the eastern seaboard of Australia, for example.

So, if I sent a message from Brisbane, at 0901 in the morning, today, the DTG would read:

210901JUNK

If five minutes later, I got a reply from London, it would be tagged:

202306JUNZ

Date-20th, because of the 10 hour time difference, thus yesterday for another fifty four minutes, 2306, for London (Greenwich) time, STANDARD, NOT daylight saving, JUN for the current month and "Z" to identify that the message was sent and tagged using GMT/UST.

The entire aviation industry, along with using English as THE standard language, uses GMT/UST for ALL scheduling and international communications. What appears on the display boards in the departure halls is a different matter.

ALL of this maritime link to Greenwich is tied up with the fact that it was the Admiralty who finally twigged that any bozo could read a sextant and sun charts, but there was no ACCURATE way to tell Longitude. Thus a competition for a clock-maker to build a ridiculously accurate wind-up clock that would be precise enough for safe navigation. This would be used in conjunction with Sun and Star charts.

Capt. James Cook was conducting "sea trials" on these during his circumnavigation. It was also handy because the times logged whilst observing the transit of Venus were of great scientific value. Previous calculations had determined the best place and time to observe this phenomenon, but without precise time-keeping and navigation, it would be completely missed. These same tools enabled a fairly accurate mapping of the east coast of Australia.

[Cosine26]

John Harrison tested the first practical chronometer in 1761 on a voyage on HMS Deptford. In a voyage of nine weeks, the total error of the chronometer was less than five seconds which was less than a mile. When I served in the USN we carried two chronometers. Chronometers were in gimbaled cases and were wound just the same number of clicks each night at 1930. Each night the Eight O'clock (not the 2000 Report, perhaps the tradition was began many years before military time) reported that the Chronometers "were wound". When I was flying B47's in SAC we carried a master watch ( I still have mine) and we used the "Rule of Thumb" that four second error equaled a one mile error. All documentation and messages were referenced to "ZULU" time. When I worked for the USN, all message DTG's were in Zulu time .
ZULU time zone is GMT time.
FWIW

[Bruce_in_Oz]

Cosine 26 make a good point about "Zulu" time.

"Serious" traffic is sent and received (and logged), with that DTG form to avoid confusion, globally.

It is fairly simple mental arithmetic to convert to local time.

Back to Maritime Misadventures: anyone running a book on how many years will pass before things become clearer?

[Aussie48]

Unless things have changed since my day all Military Communications time are in Zulu

Dick

[painter777]

I've read that the Japanese officials estimate this investigation could take up to 2 years.

My first thought is How a US Destroyer and a hulking container ship, ever got so close to begin with ?
For two large ships to be in waters where they should expect traffic and not see each other is hard to imagine. Having modern radar and what I've read about the Aegis combat system, should provide those on watch with unprecedented awareness of other vessels.
This leads me to believe there might have been some type of problem with the incoming information from radar, navigational lights from other ships and bridge-to-bridge radio communications. If any or all of this information wasn't passed along or interpreted correctly it would change as vessels alter their course and speed.
We do know the ACX Crystal made a U-turn some time before the collision, in itself being an unusual maneuver in a congested sea lane.
Aboard the Fitzgerald you have the Commanding officer in his quarters and most sailors still in their bunks when the Crystal struck. Makes you have to suspect that there was no early warning.
Surely some type of alarm, A collision alarm (?) should be sounded to wake and mobilize the crew in such a situation. You'd think some type of alarm of a impending collision would get a CO to the bridge. Isn't it: If in doubt, contact the CO ?
I've read where the Arleigh Burke-class destroyers are like the sports cars of the sea. They should be able to get out of the way of anything.

What did happen was something went wrong.

This whole thing will come down to What Didn't Happen.

Charlie-Painter777

[AZshot]

I was a surface sailor in the USN. I saw collisions, fires, electrical shocks, people falling overboard. Being at sea is dangerous. For some of the reasons why this could happen, read this blog from a former destroyer captain: How Could This Happen? The Fitzgerald, the U.S. Navy, and Collisions at Sea

Basically, it's dark, sometimes your radar is turned off for tactical reasons, sometimes it's less effective due to weather, sometimes you are in heavy shipping lanes with dozens of tracks (other ships, boats, rowboats) going at once. If a ship suddenly changes course, you sometimes need a few minutes to determine that, by watch standers or radar. If you are both going 15 Knots, it doesn't take long to hit.

Imagine an empty shopping mall parking lot, at night, with no lights on. You turn 15 or 20 cars loose, to drive wherever they want to go by any route....not using the lanes between the parking spots. You tell them to "watch out for others", and then you let the navigation continue all night long..... That's being at sea.

Yes, ships have a collision alarm that can be sounded. Sometimes in the heat of maneuvering people forget to hit it.