Search Area Expanded For Missing Sailors As Navy Removes 7th Fleet Commander

The Navy is expanding the search for sailors missing from the U.S.S. John S. McCain, which collided with a merchant vessel earlier this week. More divers, from the Navy and Marine Corps, will join the effort on Thursday.

Ten sailors were reported missing after the McCain collided with the Alnic MC on Monday in the South China Sea. The McCain was headed to Singapore for a routine port call. The bodies of some of the missing sailors have been located inside of the McCain.

The Navy says that the search area has been focused on the point of the collision east of Singapore and the Straits of Malacca and has been expanding each day.

Meanwhile, the admiral in charge of the United States Navy's 7th Fleet has been relieved of his command, the Navy announced early Wednesday. The move follows the crash of the McCain and a second fatal collision just more than two months ago.

Seven sailors died in June when the U.S.S. Fitzgerald collided with a merchant vessel about 56 nautical miles from its port in Yokosuka, Japan.

The decision to remove Vice Adm. Joseph Aucoin was made by Adm. Scott Swift, the commander of the Pacific Fleet. The 7th fleet is based in Yokosuna, Japan. Its nearly 70 ships cover nearly 50 million square miles in the Pacific and Indian oceans.

The statement from the Navy cites "a loss of confidence" in Aucoin's "ability to command."

Navy Dismisses A High-Ranking Official Following Pacific Accidents

He will be immediately replaced by Rear Adm. Phil Sawyer, the deputy commander of the Pacific Fleet. Sawyer had been scheduled to take the job on Sept. 7.

The crash led Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson to order a pause in operations for the Navy's nearly 300 ships.

"This trend demands more forceful action," Richardson said. "As such, I have directed an operational pause be taken in all of our fleets around the world."

Richardson said there would also be a review to address what the "root causes" of these accidents are and that there would be a "very tight timeline."

"We need to get to the bottom of this," Richardson said. "So let's get to it."

Richardson had appointed Adm. Phil Davidson to conduct a separate investigation into the 7th Fleet to determine its readiness for missions.

Swift, who is in Singapore overseeing the probe, ordered Davidson's investigation to look at the entire Pacific fleet.

Last week, the Navy announced the preliminary results of one of several ongoing probes into the incident involving the Fitzgerald, finding cause to relieve three of the ship's top commanders of their duty.

The Navy said this week that the Fitzgerald will be transported to a shipyard in Pascagoula, Mississippi, for repairs.

It's not known yet how long the repairs will take or how much they will cost.

There have been two other incidents this year. In May, the Lake Champlain collided with a South Korean fishing ship in an incident that had no injuries, and in February, the Antietam, another guided missile ship, ran ashore in Tokyo Bay, spilling hundreds of gallons of fuel.

The four crashes led the House Armed Services Committee to schedule a hearing for Sept. 7 to examine "Navy Readiness - Underlying Problems Associated with the USS Fitzgerald and USS McCain."

Vice Adm. Thomas Rowden, the Navy's commander of Naval Surface Forces, and John Pendleton, the Government Accounting Office's director of defense force structure and readiness issues, are both scheduled to testify.

Photos courtesy United States Navy