Investigation finds US Navy at fault for June collision

Crash led to deaths of seven US sailors and severe damage to destroyer

by Asia Unhedged July 21, 2017February 18, 2020

The guided-missile destroyer USS Fitzgerald sits in a dry dock in Yokosuka, Japan, for repairs after a deadly collision at sea. Photo: US Navy / Leonard Adams

Initial findings from an investigation into the collision of a US destroyer into a Philippine cargo ship off the coast of Japan in June have found, unsurprisingly, that the US Navy is at fault.

CNN reports, citing defense officials, that evidence suggests the accident stemmed from multiple errors by the US Fitzgerald’s crew and a failure to take action in minutes leading up to the crash.

“They did nothing until the last second,” one official said. “A slew of things went wrong.” A second official said the crash “will wind up being our (the US Navy’s) fault.”