The US Navy will pause operations worldwide amid a series of collisions with its warships, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson. He also announced a fleet-wide operational pause and investigation into Navy operations around Japan.
“As you know, this is the second collision in three months and the [latest] of a series of incidents in the Pacific theater. This trend demands more forceful action. As such, I’ve directed an operational pause be taken in all of our fleets around the world.
I want our fleet commander to get together with their leaders and their commands to ensure that we’re taking all appropriate to ensure safe and effective operations around the world.
In addition to that operational pause, I’ve directed a more comprehensive review to ensure that we get at the contributing factors – the root causes – of these incidents,” Richardson said.
The most recent collision took place between the destroyer John S. McCain and a merchant ship east of the Strait of Malacca before the dawn on Monday. As a result, 5 US servicemen were injured and 10 others went missing.
Separately, Secretary of Defense James Mattis announced that a probe probe into recent collisions has been ordered, including a separate investigation into the recent incident with USS John S. McCain.
