Editor’s Note: Lots of press and speculation on this issue. We re-post this one here as it has something we have not seen elsewhere – a report that a retired Australian Naval Intelligence officer suspected a cyber attack/GPS spoofing to be a factor in June’s USS Fitzgerald collision in June and believes that it could be a factor in USS McCain’s mishap also.
(U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Joshua Fulton/Released)
US ship collisions — was it outside scheming?
As the U.S. Navy works to identify the cause of the collision involving the USS John S. McCain and an oil tanker, Admiral John Richardson tweeted that the Navy will conduct a wide investigation, including a review into the possibility of “cyber intrusion or sabotage,” although he says there is no direct evidence at this point.
Ron DeSantis, a Navy officer, Florida Republican congressman, and member of the House Oversight and Foreign Affairs Committee, used the same phrase during a Fox News interview Tuesday, saying “are there any type of outside intrusions? A cyber-intrusion? We don’t have the facts on that yet, but clearly there has got to be some explanation because this is very rare to see mishap after mishap.”
He was referring to the fact another ship from the same fleet, the USS Fitzgerald, was also involved in an at-sea collision with a commercial vessel in June. Each incident resulted in the deaths of a number of sailors.
