U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyers and guided-missile cruisers. (U.S. Navy/Lt.j.g. Caleb Swigart)
The U.S. Navy sent two guided-missile destroyers to challenge China in the South China Sea, and Beijing is outraged.
The Arleigh Burke-class destroyers — USS Spruance and USS Preble — conducted a freedom-of-navigation operation Monday, sailing within 12 nautical miles of Chinese outposts in the contested Spratly Islands.
Navy/Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Will Gaskill
Although much of America’s attention has focused on finding the causal factors behind Monday’s collision between the USS John S. McCain (DDG-56) and a Liberian-flagged oil tanker off the coast of Singapore, we should not ignore the strategic impacts, either. They’re big and worrisome.
Navy/Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Joshua Fulton
The Navy on Aug. 24 publicly disclosed the identities of the 10 crewmembers lost in the USS John S. McCain collision last weekend, announcing the suspension search-and-rescue operations for the nine sailors who are still missing.
The USS John S. McCain, an Arleigh-Burke class guided-missile destroyer, collided with a merchant tanker east of the Strait of Malacca while headed to Singapore for a routine port visit on the morning of Aug 21., the U.S. 7th Fleet announced in a statement.
On Aug. 17, the Navy released the preliminary results of its investigation into the June 17 collision between the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Fitzgerald and Philippine-flagged container ship ACX Crystal that left seven sailors dead. The report provides minute-by-minute details of the horror that unfolded aboard the Fitzgerald after the nighttime collision, but it also highlights brave actions by the sailors of Berthing 2, which immediately flooded after the Crystal’s “bulbous bow” punched a 13-by-17 foot hole below the Fitzgerald’s waterline, to save their fellow sailors.
