Two months after seven US sailors died after the US Navy Destroyer USS Fitzgerald collided with a merchant vessel off the coast of Japan, moments ago the US Navy said that in an near replica of that incident, the guided-missile destroyer USS John S. McCain was involved in a collision with the merchant vessel Alnic MC east of Singapore and the Strait of Malacca on August 21.
#USSJohnSMcCain involved in collision with a merchant vessel while east of the Strait of Malacca. Updates to follow. https://t.co/6bHUovT8eI http://pic.twitter.com/EVcYjHwXah
— 7th Fleet (@US7thFleet) August 20, 2017
The collision was reported at 6:24 a.m. Japan Standard Time, while the ship was transiting to a routine port visit in Singapore.
Initial reports indicate the warship sustained damage to its port side aft. No immediate word on any casualties. Search and rescue efforts are under way in coordination with local authorities, the Navy said.
The Straits of Malacca, located between Malaysia and Singapore, is one of the world’s most important naval chokepoints; it sees the transit of over 15 million barrels of oil per day, mostly headed toward China and Japan. As we reported back in 2014, “if one were so inclined, halting seaborne trade routes at the Strait of Malacca would hobble the entire Chinese economy overnight, something the Chinese leadership is surely aware of, and is certainly considering alternatives to, such as land pipelines into Iran (via India), as well as Kazakhstan and Russia.”
The warship is named after John S. McCain, Sr., and John S. McCain, Jr., both Admirals in the U.S. Navy, and the grandfather and father, respectively, of the neocon Arizona senator. This crash comes days after the top three leaders aboard the USS Fitzgerald were relieved of command. That warship was damaged badly in a collision off the coast of Japan that killed seven sailors in June.
According to MarineTraffic data, the merchant ship Alnic MC with which the guided US missile destroyer collided, was built in 2008, and has a dead weight of 50,760 tons.
#AlnicMC statistics:
* Grosse Tons: 30040
* Year Built: 2008
* Deadweight: 50760 tons http://pic.twitter.com/MtTsjdlIDH
— Intel Crab (@IntelCrab) August 20, 2017
Developing.
via http://ift.tt/2wf2L8F Tyler Durden