USS John S. McCain (DDG 56)

USS John S. McCain off Diamond Head, Hawaii (1995)
Overview
Order	December 13, 1988
Keel laying	3rd September 1991
Launch	September 26, 1992
1. Period of service
Commissioning	2nd July 1994
Technical specifications
displacement	8315 tons
length	154 m
width	20 metres
Draft	9.5 meters
crew	26 officers, 315 men
drive	2 propellers, driven by 4 gas turbines; 100,000 wave horsepower
speed	31 knots
Armament	90 VLS cells , 2 triple torpedo launchers, 1 127 mm gun

The USS John S. McCain (DDG-56) is a destroyer of the US Navy , which the Arleigh Burke class belongs. She was named after Admiral John S. McCain sr. and his son John S. McCain Jr. named who also reached the rank of admiral. These were the grandfather and father of Senator John McCain . At a ceremony in Yokosuka, Japan on July 12, 2018, the senator was appointed third ship patron.

history

DDG-56 was commissioned in 1988 and laid down at Bath Iron Works in September 1991 . After 13 months the ship was launched and was baptized. Godmother was the wife of John McCain , Senator and descendant of the ship's namesake. After the final equipment and the shipyard test drives, it was put into service on July 2, 1994.

The ship made its first voyages from Pearl Harbor , in 1996 in support of Operation Southern Watch . It also operated in the Persian Gulf in 1998, this time as part of the combat group for the USS Independence (CV-62) . In 2001 the destroyer took part with the USS Kitty Hawk (CV-63) in the exercises Excercise Tandem Thrust (with the Royal Australian Navy ) and CSOFEX (with the Navy of South Korea ).

In 2002 it was used as part of Operation Enduring Freedom , followed by Exercise Keen Sword with the Japanese Navy in 2003 . In 2006 and 2007 the destroyer took part in the Valiant Shield exercise with the Kitty Hawk . In August 2008, the destroyer visited Australia to mark the 100th anniversary of the Great White Fleet's visit to Australia . In June 2009, the McCain was sailing off the Philippines when a Chinese submarine collided with the destroyer's tow sonar on June 10 . Only a few days later, the McCain shadowed a North Korean freighter that could have delivered weapons to Myanmar by circumventing an existing embargo .

In September 2010, the USS John S. McCain took part in a submarine hunt exercise with the South Korean Navy in the Yellow Sea . The purpose was to deter North Korea . The large-scale Keen Sword exercise with the Japanese Navy followed in December . In April 2013 she was ordered in response to tensions on the peninsula off the coast of North Korea.

On October 2, 2016, the USS John S. McCain and the USS Frank Cable (AS-40) made the first port visit by US Navy ships to Cam Ranh Bay since the end of the Vietnam War in 1975.

During the visit of US President Donald Trump to Japan in May 2019, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal, the USS John S. McCain was supposed to be "hidden" or hidden.

Collision with the tanker Alnic MC

Damage after the collision

On August 20, 2017, the destroyer was involved in a collision with the Liberian flag tanker Alnic MC off the coast of Singapore in the Malakka Strait . Ten sailors were reported missing after the collision. Four sailors were rushed to a hospital in Singapore with non-life-threatening injuries and one injured person did not need further medical care. The affected parts of the ship were searched with divers.

A diver jumps into the water to conduct inspections and repairs on the USS John S. McCain . Taken at Changi Naval Base in Singapore on August 23, 2017.

The collision took place at 0524 local time . At this point, most of the crew were asleep in their bunks . Similar to the collision of the USS Fitzgerald with the ACX Crystal , massive damage was caused above and below the waterline on the port side (left) amidships of the USS John S. McCain by the bulbous bow of the Alnic MC . A water ingress occurred, flooding several departments, including crew lounges, an engine room and a communication room. Most of the water ingress was stopped by damage control teams. The Alnic MC is around 182 meters long and 30,000 gross tonnage, roughly three times the size of the USS John S. McCain .

Close-up of the provisionally sealed damage to the John S. McCain . The photo was taken on board the Treasure during the piggyback return to home port.

US Osprey VTOL transporters, Seahawk helicopters, Singapore tugs and a Republic of Singapore Navy patrol ship took part in the rescue operation .

In response to this accident, the US Navy has announced a review of the work processes and safety regulations at the Seventh Fleet . Among other things, this is done by pausing all operations for a day to look for errors. There were four incidents in 2017 in the Seventh Fleet. The USS Fitzgerald (DDG-62) collided with the container ship ACX Crystal on June 17 . On January 31, the guided missile cruiser USS Antietam (CG-54) ran aground in Tokyo Bay and on May 9, the cruiser USS Lake Champlain (CG-57) collided with a Korean fishing boat in the Sea of ​​Japan .

As a result of this series of incidents, on August 23, 2017, Vice Admiral Joseph Aucoin was appointed as Commander of the Seventh Fleet by Admiral Scott Swift , Commander in Chief of the entire Pacific Fleet (the Seventh Fleet operates in the west and the Indian Ocean and the Third Fleet in the east (west coast of the USA, Hawaii ) and north to the Bering Strait ). He was replaced by Vice Admiral Phillip Sawyer .

On August 22, 2017, spokesmen for the Royal Malaysian Navy announced that they had found the potential remains of one of the ten missing sailors in the sea. Also on August 22, 2017, the Commander in Chief of the Pacific Fleet Admiral Scott Swift announced that the remains of the ten missing sailors had been found in the damaged parts of the USS John S. McCain . The search continued with divers and teams in the ship, as well as aircraft and ships at sea.

On August 24, 2017, the remains of two seamen were recovered from the flooded part of the ship.

On August 28, 2017, the US Navy announced that the remaining missing persons (ten in total) had been recovered and identified.

The ship was transported to the US base in Yokosuka by the semi-submersible Treasure of the Dockwise shipping company .

List of the deceased

• Electronics Technician 1st Class Charles Nathan Findley, 31, from Kansas City , Missouri
• Interior Communications Electrician 1st Class Abraham Lopez, 39, of El Paso , Texas
• Electronics Technician 2nd Class Kevin Sayer Bushell, 26, from Gaithersburg , Maryland
• Electronics Technician 2nd Class Jacob Daniel Drake, 21, of Cable , Ohio
• Information Systems Technician 2nd Class Timothy Thomas Eckels Jr., 23, of Manchester , Maryland
• Information Systems Technician 2nd Class Corey George Ingram, 28, of Poughkeepsie , New York
• Electronics Technician 3rd Class Dustin Louis Doyon, 26, of Suffield , Connecticut
• Electronics Technician 3rd Class John Henry Hoagland III, 20, from Killeen , Texas
• Interior Communications Electrician 3rd Class Logan Stephen Palmer, 23, of Decatur , Illinois
• Electronics Technician 3rd Class, Kenneth Aaron Smith, 22, from Cherry Hill , New Jersey

The list was published by the US Navy's 7th Fleet Public Affairs Division. The stated ranks of the deceased were valid at the time of death. The ten victims were posthumously promoted one rank each.

Investigation of the accident

The USS John S. McCain (DDG 56) was loaded onto the Treasure heavy lift truck to be taken to its home port in Yokosuka for repairs.

Chief Electronics Technician Victor Granados carries a flag to relatives at Fleet Activities Yokosuka Fleet Theater, on October 4th, 2017.

Due to the unusual frequency and nature of the clashes in the 2017 series of accidents, speculation arose as to whether the navigation systems of the destroyers USS Fitzgerald and / or USS John S. McCain had been manipulated ( hacked ). The Chief of Naval Operations of the US Navy John M. Richardson announced during a Facebook Live Streams that no evidence could be found that would have confirmed these assumptions.

A final investigation report was published on November 11, 2017, citing omissions by the crew and officers on duty as the reason for both the USS Fitzgerald and the USS John S. McCain accidents . According to the US Navy, both accidents were avoidable.

Yokosuka's community is escorting the relatives and the crew to pay tribute and support them and the deceased. The relatives and comrades were driven by FLEACT (Fleet Activities) Yokosuka to the memorial service in the Fleet Theater.

In the case of the USS John S. McCain , the accident occurred as a result of a mixture of complacency, overconfidence and a lack of adherence to established procedures. A major factor was a lack of knowledge required to operate the ship's control console.

After the report, the commander noticed that the helmsman was unable to maintain the course and ordered the speed control to be switched from the station of the previous helmsman to that of another sailor. The steering control itself remained at the original station - without the operating sailors being aware of it. Then came the message that the steering was not reacting. The commander ordered the speed to be reduced from 10 to 5 knots, but the seaman at the speed control only reduced the speed on one of the ship's waves. When after about three minutes the crew understood what was going on and regained control, there was not enough time to prevent the collision.

The throttling of one of the drive shafts and a reading error in the steering gear at the aft station resulted in a 33 degree turn to port into the collision, not out of it as hoped.

Sailors aboard the amphibious assault ship USS America (LHA 6) organize towels in the hangar bay. Civilians also immediately collected clothes and various other items of life on land.

Nobody on board was sufficiently trained to steer the ship in the event of an accident . Some of the sailors on watch at the time of the accident had been temporarily assigned to the McCain by another ship, the USS Antietam (CG-54) . The technical systems of these ships differ. Other regular crew members of the McCain were also insufficiently familiar with the steering control system to hand over steering control between different stations during and shortly after the collision.

The guard plan was also criticized. The commanding officer of the McCain had disregarded the recommendations of his executive officer , his navigator and the senior watch officer to deploy a sea ​​and anchor watch in good time .

It was also noted that neither the USS John S. McCain nor the Alnic MC had given an acoustic collision signal or the VHF bridge-to-bridge radio had been used to coordinate or warn one another.

Web links

USS John S. McCain on rocket launch

Commons : USS John S. McCain (DDG-56)  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Entry in the Naval Vessel Register (English)
• Official Homepage (English)
• Divers recover dead bodies from US destroyers

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Navy Destroyer USS John S. McCain Collides With Merchant Ship East of Singapore (English) . In: NBC News , August 20, 2017. Retrieved August 21, 2017. 
2. ↑ http://www.navy.mil/submit/display.asp?story_id=106304
3. ↑ Navy Times: Sources: Navy was tracking Chinese sub  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. June 2009, unavailable August 21, 2017. (English)  
4. ↑ Spiegel: Demonstration of power: USA relocates destroyers off North Korea's coast. April 2, 2013, accessed August 21, 2017.
5. ↑ United States warships make first visit to Vietnam base in decades (English) , South China Morning Post. October 4, 2016. Retrieved August 21, 2017. 
6. ↑ Rebecca Ballhaus, Gordon Lubold: White House Wanted USS John McCain 'Out of Sight' During Trump Japan Visit . In: Wall Street Journal . May 30, 2019, ISSN  0099-9660 ( wsj.com [accessed May 30, 2019]).
7. ↑ Media: The White House wanted to hide the US ship named after McCain from Trump. Retrieved May 30, 2019 (German). 
8. ↑ US destroyer collides with merchant ship . In: Zeit Online , August 21, 2017. 
9. ↑ US 7th Fleet Public Affairs: Divers Join Search for Missing USS John S. McCain Sailors ( English ) In: www.navy.mil . August 22, 2017. Retrieved August 22, 2017.
10. ↑ IMO 8617940
11. ↑ Geoff Ziezulewicz and David B. Larter: Stricken destroyer John S. McCain arrives in Singapore, 10 crew still missing ( English ) In: www.NavyTimes.com . August 21, 2017. Retrieved August 21, 2017.
12. ↑ Geoff Ziezulewicz: Navy's top officer calls for fleet-wide review in light of McCain disaster ( English ) In: www.NavyTimes.com . August 21, 2017. Retrieved August 22, 2017.
13. ↑ "US Navy to remove commander of 7th Fleet amid latest accidents" - CBS, August 22, 2017 (English).
14. ↑ David B. Larter: 7th Fleet commander sacked days after second deadly collision ( English ) In: www.NavyTimes.com . August 23, 2017. Retrieved August 24, 2017.
15. ↑ Geoff Ziezulewicz: New 7th Fleet head arrives in Japan ( English ) In: www.NavyTimes.com . August 28, 2017. Retrieved August 28, 2017.
16. ↑ US 7th Fleet Public Affairs: Search Area Expanding for USS John S. McCain Sailors ( English ) In: www.navy.mil . August 23, 2017. Retrieved August 24, 2017.
17. ↑ US 7th Fleet Public Affairs: US Navy Identifies Second Deceased USS John S. McCain Sailor ( English ) In: www.navy.mil . August 25, 2017. Retrieved August 25, 2017.
18. ^ Brendan McGarry: Remains of All Sailors Who Died Aboard USS McCain Recovered, Navy Says ( English ) In: www.navy.mil . August 28, 2017. Retrieved August 28, 2017.
19. ↑ Home with a special carrier. November 28, 2017. Retrieved December 10, 2017 . 
20. ↑ US 7th Fleet Public Affairs: US Navy Recovers Remaining USS John S. McCain Sailors aboard Ship ( English ) In: www.navy.mil . August 27, 2017. Retrieved August 30, 2017.
21. ↑ Chief of Naval Personnel public affairs: John S. McCain Sailors Posthumously Advanced ( English ) In: www.navy.mil . August 31, 2017. Accessed August 31, 2017.
22. ↑ Wyatt Olson: Admiral: No Evidence of Hacking in McCain, Fitzgerald Collisions ( English ) In: www.military.com . August 31, 2017. Accessed August 31, 2017.
23. ^ Dan Lamothe: 'Multiple failures' by ship crews standing watch contributed to deadly collisions, Navy finds. Washington Post November 1, 2017
24. ^ Department of the NAVY, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations: Collision Report for USS Fitzgerald and USS John S. McCain Collisions, Page 60 ( English ) In: www.navy.mil . November 1, 2017. Retrieved November 7, 2017.
25. ↑ Navy Office of Information: Navy Releases Collision Report for USS Fitzgerald and USS John S McCain Collisions ( English ) In: www.navy.mil . November 1, 2017. Retrieved November 2, 2017.