美国海军承诺将采取“更为强势的立场”,以确定是什么原因导致美国的导弹驱逐舰和商船在两个月内发生第二次碰撞。
美国海军“约翰·S·麦凯恩号”(USS John S. McCain)驱逐舰星期一在马六甲海峡附近与一艘油轮相撞,导致十名美国水兵失踪,五名水兵受伤,“约翰·S·麦凯恩号”船体受到“严重损害”。
美国海军公布的照片显示,在麦凯恩号的左舷侧,水位线以下有一个狭窄的洞。美国第七舰队的声明说,损坏“巨大”,一些睡舱和通讯室因此被水淹没。
美国海军和海军陆战队星期二在舰艇损坏部分的密封舱里面搜索失踪的水兵。与此同时,马来西亚海军和新加坡海军也在发生相撞地区继续搜索工作。
作为对该事件的回应,美国海军下令美国舰队即刻 “暂停行动”。
这是驻扎在太平洋的美国海军第七舰队两个月来第二起撞船事故。6月份,美国海军“菲茨杰拉德号”(USS Fitzgerald)驱逐舰在日本海域与一艘集装箱货轮相撞,造成七名水兵丧生。
The U.S. Navy is promising to take “a much more aggressive stance” as it tries to determine what led to a second collision between a U.S. guided-missile destroyer and a commercial vessel in as many months.
Ten American sailors are missing and five injured, with the USS John S. McCain sustaining “significant damage” as a result of Monday’s collision with a tanker near the Strait of Malacca.
Photos released by the U.S. Navy show a gaping hole, below the waterline, on the John S. McCain’s port side. A statement from the U.S. 7th Fleet said the damage was “significant” and that some sleeping areas and communications rooms flooded as a result.
U.S. Navy and Marine Corps divers searched Tuesday for the missing sailors in sealed compartments in damaged sections of the ship. Meanwhile, ships and aircraft from the Malaysian Navy and Singapore’s Navy also continued searching the area where the collision happened.
In response to the incident, the Navy ordered an immediate operational pause across the U.S. fleet.
The collision between USS John S. McCain and the Liberian-flagged tanker ship Alnic MC early Monday is the second involving a ship from the U.S. Navy’s 7th Fleet in the Pacific in two months. Seven sailors died in June when the USS Fitzgerald and a container ship hit each other in waters off Japan.