Story highlights
- The warship was towed to deep water last week to begin the loading process
- "Repairs are expected to extend the on load process by a few days," according to a Navy statement
Washington (CNN)The
USS Fitzgerald, a Navy destroyer that was damaged in June after a
deadly collision with a cargo ship off the coast of Japan, suffered two
punctures to its hull on Sunday while being loaded onto a transport ship
destined for the US, according to the service.
Already
crippled as a result of the June 17 collision that killed seven US
sailors, the Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer was headed to
Mississippi for repairs but was forced to return to its home port in
Yokosuka, Japan, when it sustained additional damage in an incident
involving a heavy lift transport vessel called the Transshelf.
The
Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Fitzgerald is loaded
onto heavy lift transport MV Transshelf last week off Yokosuka, Japan.
"Fitzgerald
returned to repair two punctures in her hull caused by the heavy lift
vessel's steel support structure during on load at anchorage," the US
Navy 7th Fleet said in a statement.
"Repairs
are expected to extend the on load process by a few days, after which
Transshelf will transport Fitzgerald to Huntington Ingalls Industries in
Pascagoula, Mississippi, for further repairs and upgrades," the
statement said.
The
warship was towed to deep water last week to begin the loading process
while en route back to the US for repairs after the collision earlier
this year caused significant damage to its starboard side above and
below the waterline.
While
Sunday's incident is only expected to delay the Fitzgerald's trip back
to the US by only a few days, the timing is less than ideal for the US
Navy as the service continues to deal with the fallout of a recent spate
of issues involving the 7th Fleet.
Two
US guided-missile destroyers, USS Fitzgerald and USS John S McCain,
suffered collisions with merchant ships, leaving 17 US sailors dead and
the two warships needing hundreds of millions of dollars in repairs.
The
accidents, off Japan and Singapore respectively, also left the Navy
wondering how two of the most sophisticated ships on the seas couldn't
even navigate crowded shipping lanes.
In
total, the 7th Fleet has clocked up five major non-combat incidents in
2017 involving ships and an additional two involving aircraft, including
last week's crash in the Philippine Sea of a plane taking personnel to the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan.
A
US Government Accountability Office report from September warned
lengthy deployments of US ships based in Japan -- as both the Fitzgerald
and McCain had been at the time of their collisions -- often result in
key training requirements being neglected due to the demands of
operational duties, something the report describes as a "problem."
Appearing
before the House Armed Services Committee as part of an investigation
into the series of fatal crashes and collisions at sea, the Navy's No. 2
officer, Vice Chief of Naval Operations Adm. William Moran, said the
Navy is trying to do too much with too little.
"We continue to have a supply-and-demand problem which is placing a heavy strain on the force," said Moran.
The Navy has launched multiple investigations, a safety pause, and reviews in the wake of the recent accidents.
The
service has also taken several personnel actions, including sacking the
commanders of the Fitzgerald and the McCain, several other senior
officers, as well as the commander of 7th Fleet, Vice Adm. Joseph
Aucoin, the first time a fleet commander has been relieved of duty in
the history of the US Navy.
The
Navy's internal report on the Fitzgerald and McCain collisions,
released in early November, said cutting corners to meet demands on 7th
Fleet ships had become the norm.
"The
risks that were taken in the Western Pacific accumulated over time, and
did so insidiously," the report said. "The dynamic environment
normalized to the point where individuals and groups of individuals
could no longer recognize that the processes in place to identify and
assess readiness were no longer working at the ship and headquarters
level."
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