I know these remarks could be taken the wrong way, but freedom of navigation doesn't mean get out of my way

USS John McCain collides with merchant ship east of Singapore, 10 sailors missing, US Navy says - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

It is sad that another 10 US sailors appear to be lost, but someone isn't doing their job of keeping these and others safe.

Should Trump send an armada to the western pacific to keep his navy safe from wandering merchant shipping?

Disturbing to think you can take out an American warship without firing a shot.

Hello:

When we were steaming normally, my job as a radarman was to plot the CPA, the closest point of approach, of all the shipping we encountered... If a ship was gonna COLLIDE with us, we informed the bridge.. It wasn't hard. I can't imagine what went wrong..

excon

It is possible that the Navy has become too reliant on electronics and less on humans keeping watch . But I suspect some other kind of jamming device being deployed . Too many incidents to be coincidences .

This is the 4th incident this year . 4 incidents in the same region goes beyond coincidence:

Jan. 31, guided missile cruiser, the USS Antietam, ran aground off the coast of Japan.
May 9, another cruiser, USS Lake Champlain, was struck by a South Korean fishing vessel.
June 17,destroyer, the USS Fitzgerald collided with a container ship
They are too concerned about transgender bathrooms.

Let's just say devilishly clever these North Koreans, four US warships without a shot. On the other hand could it be, in the true tradition of the military industrial complex that they all possess a faulty piece of equipment and some ill trained personnel

Yes 2 ships armed with anti-missile defenses rammed ;the NORKS are having a happy day ;and the Chinese also ;who don't want US fleets operating in waters they claim as their own.

I don't believe in coincidences . Since the days of ancients ,a naval tactic was to ram an opposing vessel with a bulbous bow . These tankers are perfectly designed for the task. This smells of asymmetric warfare .
I would see if there is a connection with the shipping company ;flags the tankers navigate under ,and interview the personnel .

The Navy has removed Vice Adm. Joseph Aucoin, the commander of the 7th Fleet , because regardless to the cause ,there was clearly negligence in operations . I will also say that I have mentioned a number of times the choke point aspects of operating in the Malacca Straits . It is inexcusable that the ship wasn't on alert .

Tom you forget the McCain collided with a stationary tanker, the tanker did not ram the US warship and another wound up on a sand bar, a stealth sandbar with a bulbous nose no doubt. No doubt there will be proper investigations, however, there is much more to this than an asleep sailor unless there is a culture of sailors standing double duty or perhaps the whole damn ship smashed out of their minds. Send in NCIS immediately

It just might be they are a little too wound up and make mistakes easily

How do you figure the Alnic MC was stationary ? It would've been impossible to take a direct hit to the port side if the tanker wasn't moving . The McCain had the right of way .Maritime rules dictate that the vessel with right of way maintain course and speed, even when a collision looks possible. That’s to avoid two vessels trying to course-correct, potentially making things worse. One possibility is that if the McCain may not have attempted to take evasive maneuvers until the likelihood of a crash was extremely high because it was operating under maritime rules .

That is a joke, vessels at sea pass to the starboard of each other, the McCain was hit midships on the port side, the other vessel was bunkering, in other words not under weigh, and therefore not manouverable, as I said before freedom of navigation does not mean get out of my way

here is the Alnic MC after the collision



Here is the McCain


That was a cross the T collision and it could only happen if the Alnic MC was in motion .

Tom the angle of the damage indicates that the McCain was crossing the bow of the other vessel, by rules of navigation it should not have been this close

A power-driven vessel must give way to:

• a vessel not under command;
• a vessel restricted in her ability to manoeuvre (this may include vessels towing one another);^[19]

Here is proof the McCain was targeted .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dMBxK7bQsc


A 90 degree turn to port is not an accident . It is a ramming .


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_uAffr7I-c


It is good that you titled this 'Freedom of Navigation'. The McCain had just finished such an exercise earlier this month .
https://news.usni.org/2017/08/10/uss...sea-fonop-year

The Chinese were not thrilled .

A 90 degree turn away from the direction of the oncoming vessel is standard anti collision procedure


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_uAffr7I-c

That video is just alot of conjecture


So you are saying this is chinese retribution

it was a 90 degree turn into the ship . It was not evasive at all . Yes I think it was deliberate in both cases where we just happened to lose 2 Arleigh Burke class guided missile destroyers in a theater of operation that is becoming highly contested .

no the video at the 4: 15 mark is an actual ship tracker .

Tom the navy has stated there is no evidence it is intentional

I hardly think they would tell anyone if they did think it was intentional.