Category: Navy

I’ve been holding off posting this story for a few days now because I’m not sure how family members know how this all came to pass, but I trust our buddy Susan Katz Keating who writes for People Magazine, so here we go;

It’s been reported that Fire Controlman 1st Class Gary Leo Rehm Jr., one of the sailors aboard USS FITZGERALD last week when it was struck amidships by the container ship ACX CRYSTAL near Japan, went below decks several times to rescue his “kids” who were trapped below;

Rehm saved up to 20 lives by going into dangerous parts of the ship that had been breached in the collision and helping his fellow sailors get to safety, his uncle said.

“He went back to get the other ones and I guess from what I understand they had to close the hatch, because the ship was taking on water,” [His uncle] Stanley Rehm told WKYC. “He died a hero trying to save the people on his ship.”

The Navy has been silent on the issue of the circumstances of Rehm’s heroism, but, apparently the story has been told by folks who were there.

Those seven sailors who were found below decks on the USS FITZGERALD after it’s collision with the Filippino-crewed container ship ACX Crystal have been identified as Fire Controlman 2nd Class Carlos Victor Ganzon Sibayan, 23, from Chula Vista, CA; Gunner’s Mate Seaman Dakota Kyle Rigsby, 19, from Palmyra, VA; Sonar Technician 3rd Class Ngoc T Truong Huynh, 25, from Oakville, CT; and Yeoman 3rd Class Shingo Alexander Douglass, 25, from San Diego, CA; Fire Controlman 1st Class Gary Leo Rehm Jr., from Elyria, OH; Personnel Specialist 1st Class Xavier Alec Martin, 24, from Halethorpe, MD; and Gunner’s Mate 2nd Class Noe Hernandez, 26, from Weslaco, TX.

The investigation being conducted by the Japanese Coast Guard has uncovered some odd inconsistencies. For example, they think the collision happened at about 1:30 in the morning, but the crew of the Crystal didn’t report it until 2:30. From the Associated Press;

The coast guard initially said the collision occurred at 2:20 a.m. because the Philippine ship had reported it at 2:25 a.m. and said it just happened. After interviewing Filipino crewmembers, the coast guard has changed the collision time to 1:30 a.m.

Coast guard official Tetsuya Tanaka said they are trying to resolve what happened during the 50 minutes.

The Daily Mail speculates that the Crystal was on “autopilot” at the time of the collision and that no one on the bridge knew how to turn it off;

Steffan Watkins, an IT security consultant and ship tracking analyst for Janes Intelligence Review…stated; ‘I suspect, from the data, that the Crystal was running on autopilot the whole time, and nobody was on the bridge. If anyone was on the bridge, they had no idea how to turn off the autopilot.

‘The ship taking off from the collision and resuming course, to me, is 100 per cent proof the ship was on autopilot. Nobody speeds away from that.’

According to the the tracking data 15 minutes after the presumed 1.30am collision with the Fitzgerald, the ship righted it’s course, and increased speed, readjusting for the change in course the collision had made.

Atkron sends us this photo of the casualties;

The Navy reports that USS FITZGERALD, an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, has collided with a merchant vessel in the Philippine Sea, about 50 miles off the coast of Japan.

As of this time, there have been two patients requiring medical evacuation. One was Cmdr. Bryce Benson, Fitzgerald’s commanding officer, who was transferred to U.S. Naval Hospital Yokosuka and is reportedly in stable condition. A second MEDEVAC is in progress. Other injured are being assessed. There are seven Sailors unaccounted for; the ship and the Japanese Coast Guard continues to search for them.

Although Fitzgerald is under her own power, USS Dewey (DDG 105) got underway this morning as well as several U.S. Navy aircraft, and will join Japanese Coast Guard and Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force helicopters, ships and aircraft to render whatever assistance may be required.

CNN reports that seven sailors are still missing;

The force of the impact could have thrown sailors overboard who were standing on the opposite side of the destroyer from where it was struck, he said.

That could account for the missing sailors, who may have been

Sailors could also been trapped in compartments below deck, Schuster said, pointing out that container ships have a bulbous bow below the water line, which could have plowed into the US warship.

According to a Navy news release from last month, Benson, the Fitzgerald’s commander, was new to the position, taking command of the vessel May 13 after serving as the ship’s executive officer, or second in command, since November 2015.

Last week, the US and Japanese navies spent days looking for Gas Turbine Systems Technician (Mechanical) 3rd Class Peter Mims who they thought fell overboard from the USS SHILOH. Turns out he was hiding from them on board the ship, according to the Navy Times;

The sailor who went missing June 8 and was presumed dead…had reportedly hid himself in one of the engine rooms, according to two sources familiar with the situation.

It is unclear how Mims survived a week in the engineering space or where he was hiding. He will be been flown off Shiloh for evaluation soon.

Mims disappearance prompted a massive, 50-hour search-and-rescue effort off the coast of Japan that included Japanese Coast Guard and naval forces.

He must be the first sailor to miss chow for that long and to go without a steaming cup of coffee every hour.

Silentium Est Aureum sends us a link to the story of Navy Captain Alan Damian Dorrbecker who was sentenced to eight years for sexual abuse of a girl younger than 16 years old;

Dorrbecker also will forfeit his pay and be dismissed from the Navy, marking the end of an otherwise distinguished career that included commanding the attack submarine USS Greeneville and serving two years in the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations at the Pentagon.

The charges stem from Dorrbecker’s efforts to arrange a meeting with the girl for sexual purposes while stationed in Naples, Italy, with Naval Forces Europe. The Virginian-Pilot generally does not identify victims of sexual assault.

Charge sheets say Dorrbecker sexually abused and assaulted the girl beginning in August 2015 when he sent her several lewd emails and attempted to meet with her in November and December of that year.

That didn’t take long – the Navy just said that he’d face a court martial in April when we first wrote about him.

USNI News reports that Fire Controlman 2nd Class Christopher W. Clavin who fell overboard from his ship, the USS Normandy (CG 60) a Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser, on Tuesday is still missing bout 80 miles of the coast of North Carolina.

“Every Navy and Coast Guard member participating in this operation is dedicated to finding our lost shipmate. Our thoughts are with Petty Officer Clavin and his family during this difficult time,” said Adm. Phil Davidson, commander, U.S. Fleet Forces in a statement.

Along with Normandy, carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72), U.S. Coast Guard medium endurance cutter USCGC Forward (WMEC-911), destroyers USS Bainbridge (DDG-96), USS The Sullivans (DDG-68) and USS Mason (DDG-87) are searching for the missing sailor.

As everyone is reminding me in my email, tomorrow is the 75th anniversary of the battle at Midway Islands. C. Wade McClusky Jr. led that effort which turned the tide of the War in the Pacific against the Japanese. He was a squadron commander on the USS Enterprise which was at sea when the Japanese struck Pearl Harbor so it escaped the destruction. 75 years ago, with coded Japanese radio traffic guiding them, the carrier steamed towards the islands to intercept a second invasion. McClusky’s squadron was tasked with finding the Japanese fleet. From the Associated Press;

More time — and fuel — was wasted as McClusky’s group circled while waiting for other carrier-based planes that didn’t show up. About two hours into the search and running low on gas, McClusky was faced with a choice: return to the Enterprise or keep searching, with the realization that most of his planes would have to ditch in the ocean. He kept going.

According to the U.S. Navy’s official account of the battle, McClusky soon spotted a Japanese destroyer and correctly surmised it was headed toward the main Japanese fleet. Around 10:20 a.m., he led 30 other Douglas SBD Dauntless dive bombers into the attack against the Japanese aircraft carriers.

When the day was over, the fliers from the Enterprise and Yorktown had sunk three carriers and mortally damaged a fourth. McClusky, wounded in the initial attack, made it back to his carrier with less than five gallons of fuel in his tank. Some of the other surviving two-man planes had even less. Ten planes in his squadron had to ditch in the sea and their crews were never found.

For his actions, McClusky was awarded the Navy Cross.

Now, in his hometown of Buffalo, New York, a statue of him in his flight suit will be erected in Buffalo’s new park to honor war heroes.

According to his son, Phil, the Buffalo tribute is something the Navy hero would’ve never sought for himself.

“He was a quiet guy. He was not a big talker,” said the son, 63, who lives outside Baltimore and plans to attend Sunday’s ceremony. “He was a professional naval officer.”