October 12 - The US Navy's Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS John S. McCain has been loaded onto the Dockwise heavy lift semi-submersible ship, Treasure for transport to the US Navy's Fleet Activities Yokosuka dockyard for repairs following its collision
The destroyer suffered major damage in a collision with the oil and chemical tanker Alnic MC while the ships were underway in waters east of the Straits of Malacca and Singapore.
The crew of the Treasure were assisted by technicians and during preparations for the journey and the navy's salvage team also welded a steel patch over the damaged section of the hull in order to make it watertight.
The ship suffered less damage in the collision than a similar accident involving sister ship USS Fitzgerald earlier in the year. The US Navy decided to carry out the repair at its own dockyard rather than taking the ship back to the USA, unlike the the USS Fitzgerald, which will be transported on another Dockwise semi-submersible, Transshelf, from Yokosuka to the Ingalls Shipbuilding yard in Pascagoula, Mississippi, as reported here.
A video of the loading can be seen here.
