The collision between USS Fitzgerald and NYK box ship ACX Crystal was the result of the bridge team on the US navy ship failing to take action in the minutes before the ACX Crystal rammed the warship in the Japan Sea early on the morning of June 17th, reported Schednet, citing unnamed US defence officials.
One official claimed that “they did nothing until the last second”, and that “a slew of things went wrong.” A second official said that the crash would “wind up being our fault”. A preliminary inquiry into the accident reportedly found that the accident was caused by multiple errors by the Fitzgerald’s crew. The collision claimed the lives of seven US sailors. The initial investigation found that the Fitzgerald crew had failed to understand and acknowledge that the cargo ship was approaching and had failed to take any action necessary to avoid the collision. The officials said that it was unclear if the crew called the commanding officer to come to the bridge. The officials reportedly said that investigators were also looking at the possibility that the ship was travelling at a higher speed than expected in order to reach a location it was due to arrive at the next day.