Navy: U.S. destroyer collides with oil tanker in Strait of Hormuz

[Judi Lynn]

Source: CNN

Navy: U.S. destroyer collides with oil tanker in Strait of Hormuz
From Barbara Starr, CNN Pentagon Correspondent
August 12, 2012 -- Updated 0725 GMT (1525 HKT

(CNN) -- The U.S. Navy said its guided missile destroyer collided with a Japanese-owned oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz early Sunday morning.

No one was injured in the collision that occurred about 1 a.m. local time when the USS Porter collided with the Panamanian-flagged bulk oil tanker M/V Otowasan, the Navy said in a statement.

The Navy did not provide details about the collision, saying only the accident was not related to combat. It said the incident is under investigation.

Damage to the USS Porter was being evaluated, "but the ship is able to operate under its own power," the statement said.


Read more: http://edition.cnn.com/2012/08/12/world/meast/bahrain-navy-collision/index.html

[DainBramaged]

1. There goes a transfer or retirement

How do you not see a tanker?

[kestrel91316]

51. Busy sexting while piloting??

[freshwest]

60. Ah, I expect they saw them. Very busy area, it's a 'choke point' per Wiki.

Ships moving through the Strait follow a Traffic Separation Scheme (TSS), which separates inbound from outbound traffic to reduce the risk of collision. The traffic lane is six miles wide, including two two mile wide traffic lanes, one inbound and one outbound, separated by a two mile wide separation median.

To traverse the Strait, ships pass through the territorial waters of Iran and Oman under the transit passage provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.[4] Although not all countries have ratified the convention,[5] most countries, including the U.S.,[6] accept these customary navigation rules as codified in the Convention.

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, on an average day in 2011, about 14 tankers carrying 17 million barrels (2,700,000 m3) of crude oil passed out of the Persian Gulf through the Strait. This was said to represent 35% of the world's seaborne oil shipments and 20% of oil traded worldwide.

[Suich]

2. A "guided missile destroyer" ran into an oil tanker???

[XemaSab]

3. .

[joshcryer]

5. LOL, I know, right. Massive ships colliding?

WTF!

[tomm2thumbs]

4. iceberg (lettuce) dead ahead!

seems like it would take an awful lot of oops to make this possible, or am I thinking too much

[joshcryer]

6. I totally agree! What the hell? Was the captain trying to...

...get a close view and then the unthinkable happened? It's insane. I look forward to the real story on this because this should simply not happen in open waters like that. What the fuck indeed.

[xchrom]

7. WTF?!?! Nt

[Berlum]

8. Meanwhile, Romeny-Ryan infect a Navy ship stateside. Coincidence? Mission Accomplished?

We report, you decide...

?w=584&h=373

[DRoseDARs]

9. Someone called "B3" and got a lucky shot. Quick, how many pegs is an oil tanker?

In the first turn, the Japanese player's shot landed right between our carrier and sub. Really should have spaced those two pieces out more before the game started...

[rad51]

10. Didn't know Paul Watson was in the Navy.

Whale Wars is going to be exciting this year!

[randome]

11. Seems like everyone wants to assume it was the destroyer's fault.

Maybe it was but so far there is nothing to say that.

A good rule of thumb is to always search for things to disprove a story or a point of view. If you can't find any, then the story seems solid. This story is not yet solid.

End of rant.

[catnhatnh]

13. Actually there IS a presumption the destroyer is at fault.

In maritime law the more maneuverable craft is to give way and a destroyer that is not nimble is by definition not a "destroyer".

[Junkdrawer]

14. You forgot the American Exceptionalism term....

Simple math error.

[HooptieWagon]

20. Not so.

A more manuverable or shoal draft vessel should give way in a narrow channel, but in open water a vessel keeps clear of one to it's starboard side or being overtaken. Without more information, blame should not be placed.

[Glaug-Eldare]

26. Not relevant.

Maritime traffic is governed by the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea 1972 (COLREGS). According to the COLREGS, all power vessels under command are identical, except in a narrow channel (which the Strait of Hormuz is not). "Right of way" (not technically accurate, since either vessel may be forced to act if the other 'breaks the rules') depends exclusively on their headings and position. This could be either vessel's fault -- merchant ships often maneuver too fast and without warning, and military ships often demand right-of-way they simply don't enjoy. There's a lot to be determined.

[slackmaster]

38. The duty of a commanding officer to avoid collisions supersedes the COLREGS

The CO of the Porter won't derive much help from compliance with the COLREGS. His ship got hit.

[Posteritatis]

41. Even destroyers aren't exactly ballerinas

And those waters don't lend themselves to maneuvering. It's one of the most crowded shipping lanes on the planet.

[Hugabear]

16. It couldn't possibly be the destroyer's fault

It's not like they have super-sophisticated radar, sonar, and maneuverability. Oh wait, they do...nevermind.

[slackmaster]

33. Comment I receieved in email from a high-ranking Naval officer familiar with the situation

Yup...bad day for poor Martin...self inflicted wound. Saying that your
30+ knot, 100,000 horse power destroyer "got hit by" the lumbering oil
tanker is like the Cheetah saying the Elephant ran into him...Not much
room for excuses here.

"Martin" refers to the CO of the US Navy vessel.

[barbtries]

61. thank you for sharing that

it clears it up somewhat, for me anyway.

[cloudbase]

57. From the looks of things,

the destroyer got tagged in the starboard side, so it's not looking too good for the USN. It will be interesting to see what the VDRs show.

[Junkdrawer]

12. Why do I think that the Iranian oil embargo is involved....

Add to that a nation so energy desperate that they're thinking of restarting their 2nd generation nukes after biggest nuclear power catastrophe ever struck their other 2nd generation nukes.

[Marrah_G]

17. It was a Japanese/Panamanian ship

Japanese company owns the ship, ship flies under a Panama flag.

http://www.haaretz.com/news/middle-east/u-s-warship-japanese-owned-tanker-collide-near-strait-of-hormuz-1.457594

[Proletariatprincess]

15. And why do I think the USA is looking like it can't do anything right?

US destroyer shouldn't be in that region anyway. It is a provactive action and now it can't even steer the ship without hitting something. Maybe it was intentional, but I doubt it. One thing is sure: we will never know what this story is really all about. National Security, ya know. We taxpayers just pay for the foreign policy...we don't ever get a say in it or any real reason why.

[CanonRay]

18. I thought Destroyers were quick and nimble

Have a nice retirement, Captain...glad nobody got hurt.

[lastlib]

19. "two ships that (don't) pass in the night..."

[Missycim]

21. Capt kiss your command and rank goodbye

[unhappycamper]

24. Buh Bye Commanding Officer Martin Arriola

[Cooley Hurd]

52. Arriola?

I guess his career is nipped in the bud...

[primavera]

22. The article makes no mention of whether any oil was spilled

Am I the only one who would want to know whether a collision with an oil tanker resulted in any spilled oil?

[Bette Noir]

23. That was my first thought, too.

[primavera]

25. Oh well

Surely if there had been any oil spilled, we could trust CNN to report it, right?

on edit:

Phew!

"The cause of the incident is under investigation, the Navy said, adding that there were no reports of spills or leakages from either the USS Porter or the Otowasan."

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gEaVMmMCN4IOUjcBqTA69oY0__IQ?docId=93d90c9e017948d6905b11d3a1cf0466

[dixiegrrrrl]

30. No, that was my first thought too.

All oil tankers are supposed to be double hulled, a rule that went into affect after the Exxon Valdez.
So I am curious as to how hard of an impact the collision was, and if any oil was spilled.
Also curious as to where the destroyer was coming from and going to.

[unhappycamper]

27. Here's a pic of the damage to the $1.8 billion dollar USS Porter

[leveymg]

29. Someone's going to be mowing a lot of lawns and raking leaves to pay off that damage.

[Junkdrawer]

44. Accident, or a game of chicken?

I smell blockade.

[leveymg]

45. I smell early retirement. Maybe several in both wheelhouses.

Negligent operation.

[dixiegrrrrl]

31. Looks like the tanker hit the destroyer.

if I am seeing this correctly.

[Glaug-Eldare]

36. Yeeeaaaaaahhhhhh, kinda looks that way. n/t

[slackmaster]

37. They'll have to get the FBI to do a paint-transfer analysis on that one

[slackmaster]

32. That will buff right out

[dixiegrrrrl]

54. do they have to take the ship around to 3 drydocks to get estimates

like we do with cars?
Jus wondering....

[AtheistCrusader]

39. Holy shit, that almost looks as bad as the Cole. I thought we weren't letting ships approach

our military vessels anymore?

[Posteritatis]

40. Shipping in that strait has no choice. (nt)

[slackmaster]

42. No, it isn't anything close to the damage to the Cole

The Cole had a large puncture that extended to below the waterline. This is closer to a dented fender. The ship is fully operational. The Cole had to be lifted out of the water for transport.

[AtheistCrusader]

43. I can see the interior of the ship.

That hole is pretty close to the same size, though it is well away from the water line, which is helpful.

[Glaug-Eldare]

47. I was on a ship that got holed once

Not as bad as that, but you could see in from outside. Holing collisions/allisions are rare, but they happen. I get the feeling this one looks a lot worse than it is.

[Posteritatis]

55. Modern warships aren't armored; it doesn't take much to put a hole in sheet metal like that.

The framework is much more important, especially for a hit above the water line like that, and the damage is absolutely not comparable to the Cole.

[AtheistCrusader]

58. Well, not being an explosion

you don't have any spalling or blast overpressure to deal with. The Cole's Ageis radar panel above the blast was blown out, just from the overpressure.

But the size of the hole is significant. Having seen it from multiple angles, it's pretty bad. Mostly just a fortuitous location to be hit.

The costs to repair will be an interesting indicator. Obviously, they will be less for the Porter, but the cost should be considerable.

[Posteritatis]

59. Oh, it really sucks, to be sure

It's bad (and will probably get worse when the repair bills show up), but not catastrophic in the sense that the ship's in danger or losing bits all over the place.

[Brother Buzz]

49. The tanker T-boned the USS Porter

Tanker will need some paint, the destroyer will head for the yards, and the commander of the destroyer will never command a ship again. Bank on it

[Judi Lynn]

50. Wow. Thanks for the view! n/t

[BlueToTheBone]

28. Did it leak oil into the sea? n/t

[Posteritatis]

56. Most likely not

The destroyer wasn't hit in the 'right' place for that, and the tanker's share of the damage probably boils down to "hey, guys, you hear something?"

[Octafish]

34. Fortunate in that no one died.

Feel for the Skipper. 1 in the morning. Somebody somewhere lost track of something. Even if mechanical, the Boss gets the blame.

[slackmaster]

35. Yes. Even if the Navy vessel was anchored and the Japanese tanker rammed it, CO is toast

[AtheistCrusader]

48. Yeah he's done.

The navy has no sense of humor for this kind of shit. It cannot possibly be 'accidental' enough for him to keep his job.

[vkkv]

46. Great.. so that new FIVE BILLION DOLLAR 'stealth' Navy Destroyer will be EVEN EASIER to hit!

How much did all the RADAR and SONAR and GPS equipment cost the TAXPAYER?!

YOU IDIOTS!

[Poll_Blind]

53. A guided missile destroyer was so situationally UN-aware it gets hit by an oil tanker?

I'm looking forward to finding out the story behind that.

PB