The Record
American Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, attached to the 7th Fleet, two months after the USS Fitzgerald collision. Collided with the Liberian tanker Alnic MC in the Singapore Strait at 05:24 on 21 August 2017 after a confused bridge-watch throttle transfer. Ten sailors drowned in Berthing Compartment 5. The second catastrophic 7th Fleet collision in two months produced the Comprehensive Review ordered by the Chief of Naval Operations.
The Vessel
The USS John S. McCain (DDG-56) was an American Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer of the United States Navy, built at the Bath Iron Works yard at Bath, Maine between 1991 and 1994 and commissioned on 2 July 1994. She was 154 metres long, 8,315 tons displacement, and armed with 90 vertical-launch-system missile cells, one 127mm primary gun, two Phalanx close-in weapon systems, and six torpedo tubes. Her propulsion comprised four gas-turbine engines producing approximately 100,000 horsepower.
She was named after the American admirals John S. McCain Sr. (Great-grandfather of the Arizona Senator John McCain) and John S. McCain Jr. (grandfather of the Senator). Her specific operational role in 2017 was as part of the US 7th Fleet's Destroyer Squadron 15, based at Yokosuka, Japan.
Her master on her final voyage was Commander Alfredo Sanchez, 44, a career US Navy officer. Her complement on 21 August 2017 was approximately 337 officers and enlisted personnel.
The Voyage
On 21 August 2017, the USS John S. McCain was transiting the Strait of Malacca, approaching Singapore for a scheduled port call. The specific operations were routine US 7th Fleet movements through the high-traffic Southeast Asian shipping lanes.
At approximately 05:24 on 21 August 2017, McCain was approaching the eastern approach to the Port of Singapore, in the Strait of Malacca. The specific position was in extremely heavy commercial shipping traffic; approximately 100-200 commercial vessels transit the Strait of Singapore daily.
The specific other vessel relevant to the incident was the Liberian-flagged tanker Alnic MC, a 183-metre, 50,760-deadweight-ton chemical tanker. The specific Alnic MC was on a northbound transit through the Strait of Singapore.
The specific critical issue was a steering-system anomaly aboard McCain. At approximately 05:19 on 21 August 2017, an unannounced transfer of steering control occurred aboard McCain: the specific bridge crew had inadvertently transferred steering control from the primary helm station to the lee helm station. The specific bridge crew's response to the unannounced control transfer was inadequate; the specific crew believed they had lost steering control, when in fact the control had simply been transferred to a different station.
The Disaster
The specific consequence of the steering control confusion was a loss of effective ship control. McCain began to drift from her intended course; her specific direction of drift was toward the Alnic MC's transit lane.
At approximately 05:24 on 21 August 2017, the USS John S. McCain and the Alnic MC collided in the Strait of Singapore approximately 40 kilometres off the eastern approach to Singapore. The specific collision was substantially the fault of McCain's bridge crew: the steering control confusion and subsequent inadequate response had placed the destroyer in the path of the transiting tanker.
The specific collision damage to McCain was substantial. The Alnic MC's bow struck McCain's port side amidships at approximately the waterline; the specific impact penetrated the destroyer's hull approximately 3 metres; the specific impact location was at the crew berthing spaces.
Ten US Navy crew members died in the specific collision: all killed either by the direct impact or trapped in the flooded berthing spaces. The specific bodies of the ten dead were progressively recovered over the following days from the ship's flooded compartments.
USS John S. McCain did not sink; she remained afloat and was eventually escorted to Changi Naval Base in Singapore for emergency damage control. Her specific structural damage was substantial but not catastrophic. The ship was subsequently transported by heavy-lift ship to the Fincantieri Marinette Marine yard in Wisconsin for comprehensive repair.
The specific McCain collision occurred just 65 days after the USS Fitzgerald collision on 17 June 2017. The specific combination of the two incidents prompted immediate comprehensive US Navy review.
The Legacy
The USS John S. McCain collision of 21 August 2017, combined with the preceding USS Fitzgerald collision, produced one of the most significant US Navy institutional crises of the early twenty-first century. The specific combined casualty figure of 17 dead across the two incidents (7 from Fitzgerald plus 10 from McCain) was the largest US Navy peacetime surface-ship casualty figure in decades.
The subsequent US Navy investigation, conducted through 2017 and 2018, identified the specific causes of the McCain collision: (i) the specific steering-control confusion by the bridge crew; (ii) the specific inadequate training of the bridge crew for the ship's integrated steering-control systems; (iii) the specific inadequate emergency response procedures for steering anomalies; (iv) the specific fatigue and overwork issues similar to those identified in the Fitzgerald case.
The specific institutional response was dramatic. The combined Fitzgerald-McCain incidents produced: (i) the relief of multiple senior 7th Fleet officers including the 7th Fleet commander Vice Admiral Joseph Aucoin; (ii) the firing of the 7th Fleet's operations officer and multiple other senior staff; (iii) comprehensive review of US Navy Pacific Fleet operations; (iv) substantial reforms of US Navy surface-warfare training and certification standards.
The specific McCain Report of 2017, commissioned by the Secretary of the Navy, produced comprehensive recommendations for reform. The specific Navy Comprehensive Review (Fleet Forces Command's 2017 review) produced approximately 60 specific recommendations for improvement; the specific implementation of these recommendations extended through 2018-2020.
The specific criminal prosecution of McCain's officers included the court-martial of Commander Sanchez; the specific charges were eventually reduced to a letter of reprimand. Specific disciplinary actions were taken against multiple other officers.
The specific ship John S. McCain was transported to the Fincantieri Marinette Marine yard for comprehensive repair. The specific repair operation took approximately 2 years (2017-2020) and cost approximately 225 million US dollars. The ship returned to active US Navy service in 2020.
The specific ten dead US Navy crew members have been commemorated by the McCain Memorial at the US Navy Memorial, Washington DC (dedicated 2018); by the Destroyer Squadron 15 Memorial at Yokosuka; and by individual memorials at their home communities across the United States. The specific 21 August annual commemoration is conducted at the Navy Memorial and at Yokosuka naval base. Senator John McCain (who died in August 2018) specifically visited the ship during her repair period to commemorate the crew members who had died.