ARE WE LOSING THE PLOT

ACX CRYSTAL (Philippines) / USS FITZGERALD

In collision with US Navy destroyer USS Fitzgerald 56 nautical miles SW of Yokosuka 16 Jun 2017. Ar Yokohama 19 Jun. Sd 25 Jun.

09 MAY 2018 London, May 9 — A press report, dated today, states: The U.S. Navy officer Lt. j.g. Sarah Coppock who pleaded guilty to dereliction of duty on Tuesday, in the collision of destroyer USS Fitzgerald with fully cellular containership ACX Crystal that killed seven sailors last year, was sentenced to receive half-pay for three months and a letter of reprimand. The plea was the result of an agreement between the officer and military prosecutors before a special court-martial was supposed to begin at the Navy Yard in Washington. Coppock was the officer of the deck at the time of the collision. Coppock reportedly said, she made some tremendously bad decisions and the victims paid the price.

WED, 09 MAY 2018 London, May 9 — A press report, dated today, states: A junior Navy officer, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to her role in last year’s deadly collision involving destroyer USS Fitzgerald and fully cellular containership ACX Crystal off the coast of Japan that killed seven sailors. On Tuesday’s hearing, the officer entered a guilty plea to a charge of “dereliction in the performance of duties through neglect contributing to the deaths” of the seven sailors. The officer acknowledged that, in violation of the commanding officer’s standing orders and navigation rules, she had failed to communicate with the ship’s Combat Information Center, did not report ship contacts with the commanding officer and did not alert the ship’s crew of an imminent collision. During questioning from the presiding judge at Tuesday’s special court-martial, the officer admitted that in violation of the commanding officer’s order, she had not contacted him whenever a ship sailed within 6,000 yards of the destroyer.

In New Zealand 2 years and 3 months after a cruise ship with over 600 passengers touched the bottom just inside the entrance to Tory Channel the official report has been released. Its main point that the bridge team had no common or agreed understanding of the plan for the ship to make a turn into Tory Channel and therefore the bridge team monitoring the ships progress was set to fail.