In another case of a Navy destroyer colliding with a civilian vessel, the USS Benfold (above) was slightly damaged when a Japanese tug drifted into it during a towing exercise off central Japan. The tug lost power during the exercise and “drifted into the ship,” according to a Navy statement.
No one was injured in this incident, and the Benfold just suffered some scrapes on its side. But it was a painful reminder of earlier collisions between two other destroyers, the USS Fitzgerald and the USS John S. McCain, and merchant ships that ended with the deaths of 17 sailors. In subsequent reports, the Navy said that both of those collisions were avoidable.
In this latest incident, the Benfold remains at sea under her own power, while the Japanese tug was being towed back to Yokosuka. Read more here in a story from the U.S. Naval Institute News:
https://news.usni.org/2017/11/18/destroyer-uss-benfold-damaged-collision-japanese-tug
