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US Navy to relieve commander of duty after collisions
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his file photo taken on June 18, 2017 shows Vice Admiral Joseph Aucoin, Commander of the US 7th Fleet, speaking during a press conference in front of the guided missile destroyer USS Fitzgerald at the US Navy's Yokosuka Base, southwest of Tokyo. (Agence France-Presse/Kazuhiro Nogi)
T
he commander of the US Navy's Seventh Fleet will be relieved of duty after a deadly collision between a destroyer and a tanker off Singapore, the latest in a series of accidents, a defense official said Tuesday.
The decision to remove Vice Admiral Joseph Aucoin from the post in Japan comes as the Navy undertakes a fleet-wide global investigation after Monday's incident involving the USS John S. McCain, which left 10 sailors missing and five injured.
The Seventh Fleet, which compromises ships, submarines and aircraft, is the centrepiece of the US military presence in Asia, undertaking sensitive missions such as operations in the South China Sea and around the Korean peninsula.
Admiral Aucoin has been commander of the fleet since September 2015 and has been in the navy since 1980.
Monday's accident was the second fatal collision in two months -- after the USS Fitzgerald collided with a cargo ship off Japan in June, leaving seven sailors dead -- and the fourth accident in the Pacific this year involving an American warship.
The incidents have sparked concern that the US Navy could be overstretched in East Asia as it tackles China's rising assertiveness and North Korea's nuclear ambitions.
The latest accident happened before dawn in busy shipping lanes around the Strait of Singapore, leaving a gaping hole in the hull of the warship and flooding it with water.
A massive search involving planes and aircraft was launched and US Navy divers joined the hunt Tuesday, scouring the ship's flooded compartments.
The divers had found remains of some of the sailors, Admiral Scott Swift, commander of the US Pacific Fleet, said Tuesday without giving further details.
