Still lost at sea
No sign of 10 as Navy ‘pauses’ for probe
Night fell on waters off Singapore late Monday, with no sign of 10 missing sailors whose ship — the USS John S. McCain — collided with an oil tanker in the Strait of Malacca hours earlier.
Adm. John Richardson, chief of Naval operations, said a massive investigation was necessary following the crash and a June collision between the USS Fitzgerald and a merchant ship near Japan, which killed seven US sailors.
Richardson ordered an “operational pause” across all Navy fleets, to evaluate training and certification procedures.
“It is the second such incident in a very short period of time — inside of three months — and very similar as well,” Richardson told reporters at the Pentagon.
“It is the last of a series of incidents, in the Pacific fleet in particular, and that gives great cause for concern that there is something out there we are not getting at.”
The admiral demanded answers — fast.
“This review will be on a very tight timeline,” Richardson said. “I want to get frequent updates. This requires urgent action.”
The admiral also said on Monday night that the Navy will investigate whether the ships’ computers had been hacked before the crashes.
“2 clarify Re: possibility of cyber intrusion or sabotage, no indications right now . . . but review will consider all possibilities,” Richardson tweeted.
The McCain crash happened at 5:24 a.m. local time Monday.
Despite a huge hole in its port side, the guided-missile destroyer limped safely into Singapore’s Changi Naval Base on Monday night.
Investigators couldn’t immediately reach portions of the ship that were the most badly damaged, fueling speculation that some of the missing sailors could be trapped within the vessel’s gnarled wreckage.
US officials on Monday declined to speculate on what might have caused the crash.
The McCain collided with the 600-foot-long Liberian-registered oil tanker Alnic MC, which made it into port with no major damage or leak of its cargo of fuel, crew members said.