Seaway-Hawk

The American destroyer USS 'Delbert D. Black' sustained millions of dollars in damage when being hit by the 'Hawk' which was heading into the port at Huntington Ingall's Mississippi shipyard on March 29, 2019. Now a report on the accident has been published which showed that there was disagreement on the bridge as theheavy-lift ship as heading into the port, being loaded with a float dock on March 29 last year. The captain, who had three local pilots on board, warned them that the ship was long overdue to reduce speed and recommended that this should soon be ordered. But there was no listening to him, and the pilot at the helm would not slow down early because he was concerned that the steering speed was too low. He would rather use the two tugs behind the ship to reduce the speed, but he did not achieve that. The captain was right, that the speed was too high in the harbour, where the 'Hawk' first hit a barge and then the destroyer. The damage - incl. delays in production - was up to just over 30 million US $, roughly the same amount as the destroyer under construction suffered damage.

The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi has issued a warrant for the arrest of the "Hawk" which was at the center of an accident on March 29 2019, in which it slammed into a test barge at Ingalls Shipbuilding, pushing the barge into the newbuild destroyer USS "Delbert Black (DDG 119)". The "Hawk" was delivering a Chinese built floating dry dock to the shipyard at the time of the incident. The arrest warrant was issued on April 15, in response to a civil complaint filed by Ingalls’ parent, Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII), against OHT Hawk AS, Offshore Heavy Transport AS, Songa Shipmanagement Ltd, and the "Hawk". In its complaint, HII asserts that as the "Hawk" approached the HII berth, it lost control, veered off course, and allided with HII’s test barge and the USS "Delbert D. Black (DDG 119)", causing significant damage to the test barge, the floating dry dock, HII’s wharf facilities and the destroyer. According to the complaint, HII currently estimated its damages to be as follows: a) Damage and repair to the HII test barge and wharf facilities – $10.1 million dollars; b) Delay and disruption of HII’ s facilities $21.1 million dollars. The complaint also asserted that HII has suffered additional damages due to the allision, which amounts will be proven at trial, and said the current damage estimates were for HII’s damages only and do not include the damage sustained by the U.S. Navy to repair the allision damage to the USS "Delbert D. Black", which HII estimated was approximately $30.9 million, plus additional delay and disruption damages the Navy may have sustained as a result of the allision. The "Hawk" was berthed at the Pascagoula River West Harbor- South Terminal since March 29.

On March 29, 2019, at 10.15 a.m. the "Hawk" allided with a test barge at Huntington Ingalls Industries' yard in Pascagoula, Mississippi, pushing the barge into a newbuild destroyer. The heavy lift ship was arriving from Qingdao with a new Chinese-built floating drydock on board. The test barge was alongside the USS "Delbert D. Black - DDG 119" at the time of the allision and had electrical transformers on it. The barge was supporting electrical work on board the destroyer, and the impact pushed it against the newbuild's hull. Several persons suffered minor injuries and were treated at the scene. The destroyer was christened in 2017 and will be fully manned by the fourth quarter of 2019. It is the 32nd Arleigh Burke-class destroyer built by Huntington Ingalls. Report with photos: http://www.wlox.com/2019/03/29/happening-now-smoke-reported-ingalls-after-possible-collision/