US warship, tanker collide,10 missing
There was no official word on how long the disruption to the world's most powerful navy, active in all of the world's oceans, might last.
The US Navy declared a worldwide pause in its operations on Monday after the latest in a series of accidents left 10 sailors missing and five injured.
Chief of Naval Operations Admiral John Richardson ordered an “operational pause” to allow a “comprehensive review” of practices after the destroyer USS John McCain was hit by a merchant tanker off Singapore.
“As you know this is the second collision in three months and the last of a series of incidents in the Pacific theater,” admiral Richardson said. “This trend demands more forceful action. As such I have directed an operational pause be taken in all of our fleets around the world.”
US defense secretary James Mattis, on a visit to Jordan, said admiral Richardson’s “broader enquiry will look at all related accidents, incidents at sea, that sort of thing. He is going to look at all factors, not just the immediate one.”
There was no official word on how long the disruption to the world’s most powerful navy, active in all of the world’s oceans, might last. But the US media suggested the pause would last for a day.
Ten US sailors were still missing after the John McCain collided with a tanker on Monday, tearing a large hole in its hull in the second accident involving an American warship in two months.
The badly damaged destroyer limped into port in the city-state of Singapore in the afternoon under escort after the dramatic pre-dawn accident, which sent water flooding into the vessel.
A major search involving ships and aircraft from three countries was launched for the missing sailors.
Analysts said the accident raised questions about whether the US Navy was overstretched in Asia as it seeks to combat Chinese assertiveness in the South China Sea and North Korea’s nuclear ambitions.