After Three Years, USS Fitzgerald Returns to Service

On June 17, 2017, the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, USS Fitzgerald, collided with the container ship  ACX Crystal near Toyko Bay off the coast of Japan. Seven US sailors died in the collision and at least three more were injured, including … Continue reading

The Fitzgerald Tragedy & the Fort Report –Worse Than We Thought

There is a tragic irony in the collision of the guided-missile cruiser USS Fitzgerald, which resulted in the death of seven of its crew. The Fitzgerald is built around one of the most advanced anti-missile radar systems in the world and yet when it turned into … Continue reading

What Could the Captain of the ACX Crystal See? Container Ship Visibility & Maneuvering

One recurring comment related to the collision between the USS Fitzgerald and the container ship ACX Crystal was that the container ship might not have been able to see the destroyer over the containers stacked on deck. There are photographs … Continue reading

The USS Fitzgerald Is At Fault. This Is Why — Commentary by gCaptain’s John Konrad

gCaptain’s Captain John Konrad has a excellent post today that describes in detail why he believes that the destroyerUSS Fitzgerald was at fault in its recent collision with the container ship ACX Crystal.  He suggests a simple rule for avoiding collisions with … Continue reading

Conspiracy Theories Spring Up Around the USS Fitzgerald — ACX Crystal Collision

The one thing we can say for certain is that we do not have all the facts surrounding the collision between the guided-missile destroyer USS Fitzgerald  and the Philippine container ship ACX Crystal . The collision nearly sank the destroyer, killed seven … Continue reading

Destroyer USS Fitzgerald Nearly Sank Following Collision — Seven Sailors Died Below Deck

We now know that the USS Fitzgerald came perilously close to sinking  following its collision with the Philippine-flagged container ship ACX Crystal, early Saturday morning off the Japaneses coast near Tokyo.   “Heroic efforts prevented the flooding from catastrophically spreading, which could have … Continue reading