USS Fitzgerald crash that killed seven American sailors 'was navy's own fault'

Seven US sailors lost their lives and another seven were injured

The USS Fitzgerald returns to fleet activities following the incident last month (Reuters)

A deadly crash between a US warship and a Philippine cargo vessel is believed to have been the fault of the US navy, according to CNN citing preliminary investigations into the incident which claimed the lives of seven American sailors.

The network said that two officials from the Department of Defence said that there were multiple errors by the crew of the USS Fitzgerald that led to the collision in June. “They did nothing until the last second,” one official was quoted as saying. “A slew of things went wrong.” A second official said the crash “will wind up being our fault.”

The crash between the Fitzgerald, an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, and the ACX Crystal on 17 June claimed the lives of seven US sailors. A further seven sailors were injured, including Commander Bryce Benson, who held the command of the ship.

The incident occurred 56 nautical miles off the coast of Honshu, Japan in an area that is known as a place to be heavily used by commercial shipping.

CNN said that the initial investigation found that the USS Fitzgerald crew failed to understand and acknowledge the cargo ship was approaching and failed to take any action necessary to avoid the crash. For instance, it remains unclear if members of the crew ever called the commanding officer to come to the bridge.

The officials say investigators are also looking at the possibility that the ship was traveling at a higher speed than expected in order to reach a location it was due to arrive at the next next day.