page_title: USS Fitzgerald and MV ACX Crystal collision
section_title: Damage to USS Fitzgerald
hierarchical_section_title: USS Fitzgerald and MV ACX Crystal collision / Synopsis of events / Damage to USS Fitzgerald
caption_attribution_description: English: 170711-N-VA840-008 YOKOSUKA, Japan (July 11, 2017) The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Fitzgerald (DDG 62) sits in Dry Dock 4 at Fleet Activities (FLEACT) Yokosuka to continue repairs and assess damage sustained from its June 17 collision with a merchant vessel. FLEACT Yokosuka provides, maintains, and operates base facilities and services in support of U.S. 7th Fleet's forward-deployed naval forces, 71 tenant commands and 26,000 military and civilian personnel. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Leonard Adams/Released)
context_page_description: Early on 17 June 2017, the United States Navy destroyer USS Fitzgerald collided with MV ACX Crystal, a Philippine-flagged container ship, about 80 nautical miles southwest of Tokyo, Japan; 10 nautical miles southeast of the city of Shimoda on the Japanese mainland.
  The accident killed seven Fitzgerald sailors. Their bodies were recovered from the flooded berthing compartments of the ship. At least three more of the crew of nearly 300 were injured, including the ship's commanding officer, Commander Bryce Benson. The top two senior officers and the top enlisted sailor were relieved of duty and are facing criminal charges; about a dozen other sailors will receive non-judicial punishment. The owners of the merchant vessel have agreed to pay $27 million in compensation to the US Navy.
context_section_description: The Navy initially said Fitzgerald was repairable and would be back in service within twelve months. A few days later, Navy officials said the superstructure, damaged in the collision, might have been warped, which could create alignment problems for the AN/SPY-1 radar, which itself had been damaged on the starboard side. Flooding extended to a main engineering space and Radio Central, destroying equipment worth millions of dollars. The Navy planned to bring the ship into drydock between 6 and 8 July, with an adapted dry dock plan taking account of the damage caused to the hull by the collision. In the event Fitzgerald entered a dry dock in Yokosuka on 11 July.  It was reported that this was in order for the Navy to evaluate the extent of the damage to Fitzgerald before deciding whether to repair the ship in Japan or back in the United States, however an analyst at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments said the repairs could not be done overseas, and the dry dock inspection was principally to determine if the ship could return to a private shipyard in the US under its own power, or, more likely, would have to be carried back on a heavy-lift ship. The costs for the repair were expected to be in the tens of millions of dollars. Fitzgerald was scheduled to undergo a planned modernization in  2019, but it was unclear if the timeline for that would be affected by the repairs.
  In late August 2017, it was reported that the destroyer would be transported by the Dockwise heavy-lift ship MV Transshelf to Huntington Ingalls Industries' shipyard in Pascagoula. On 28 November 2017, the destroyer was further damaged by two punctures to its hull during the loading process to Transshelf. 
  Following repairs, on 3 February 2020, USS Fitzgerald exited the Pascagoula shipyard for sea trials aimed at testing all shipboard systems.  It was planned that following these sea trials, Fitzgerald would return to the shipyard to correct any remaining issues and then commence crew training in preparation for its return to active duty.
caption: A detailed view of the damage to Fitzgerald. A patch has been welded over the below-waterline damage. Image taken while in dry dock on 11 July 2017
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