Collision with Private Vessel

Under raised alert level against consecutive intimidation from North Korea, United States Navy vessel had an accident in a dense sea transportation around Japan. U.S.S. Fitzgerald, an Arleigh-Burke class destroyer with the communication system of Aegis, collided with a Filipino freighter ACX Crystal at 20 kilometers southeast of Irou Cape of Izu Peninsula. Having broken its starboard, U.S.S. Fitzgerald is missing seven crews. Japanese Coast Guard is searching them for rescue.

According to 3^rd Regional Coast Guard Headquarters and 7^th Fleet of U.S. Navy, ACX Crystal reported the headquarters the crush with a U.S. Navy vessel on 2:25 a.m. on Saturday. The freighter owned by Nippon Yusen Kaisha, or NYK Line, was on its way from Port of Nagoya to Tokyo, loading a number of containers and twenty Filipino crews. The homeport of U.S.S. Fitzgerald is Yokosuka, where the headquarters of 7^th Fleet is. While it was not announced where it was going to, U.S.S. Fitzgerald returned to Yokosuka after the accident.

In terms of size, ACX Crystal was far bigger than U.S.S. Fitzgerald. While U.S.S. Fitzgerald has 154 meters length and 8,315 gross tonnages, ACX Crystal has 222 meters and 29,060 tonnages. It is confirmed that ACX Crystal has a damage on the port around bow and the starboard of U.S.S. Fitzgerald was severely broken by the collision. Three crews including Captain Bryce Benson were injured and sent to a Navy hospital of 7^th Fleet in Yokosuka for medical care.

In the Act of Preventing Collision at Sea legislated in Japan, it is an obligation for the ship that sees another ship on its right side to avoid collision, when both ships are crossing their courses each other. Japan Coast Guard is focusing on whether both ships were carefully watching the sea traffic at the time. However, the primary jurisdiction is on the side of United States under Japan-U.S. Status of Forces Agreement.

It is supposed that U.S.S. Fitzgerald was collided from the behind of its right side. But, it is likely that U.S.S. Fitzgerald was responsible for avoiding collision, because it was seeing ACX Crystal on its right side. “As long as seeing the damage of its body, it is possible that U.S.S. Fitzgerald had to prevent the collision,” told a lawyer with rich experience in maritime lawsuits, “but the freighter also needed to slow down or stop.”

Japanese media has been curious about Aegis vessels, since it received hard protest when it was introduced in Maritime Self-defense Force, because high-tech communication system means further integration of JSDF to U.S. military operation. An expert of military equipment argued that even an Aegis vessel would be vulnerable for collision from its side. Some media was interested in the damage on radar system installed in the destroyer.