By David B. Larter, Defense News: ““GAO … found that the high pace of operations the Navy uses for overseas-homeported ships limits dedicated training and maintenance periods, which has resulted in difficulty keeping crews fully trained and ships maintained,” the report read.”
By Kevin Eyer, Proceedings Magazine: “While everyone suddenly seems familiar with these issues – at least enough to vault over process directly to the firing of a vice admiral – the element that has so far eluded discussion is the material condition of these ships. To understand the inexplicable fact that, every day, ships are operating in the most extraordinarily suboptimized ways, several factors need to be understood.”
While theories as to what caused the collision are hurdled around the internet, multiple reports, including from CNN, state that the ship inadvertently lost steering control before the crash. Here is what the CNN report said:
"The McCain suffered a steering failure as the warship was beginning its approach into the Strait of Malacca, causing it to collide with a commercial tanker, a Navy official told CNN.The official said it was unclear why the crew couldn't use the ship's backup steering systems to maintain control. Earlier, another US Navy official told CNN there were indications the destroyer experienced a loss of steering right before the collision, but steering had been regained afterward."
http://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/13707/divers-find-remains-of-uss-mccain-sailors-as-reports-of-steering-loss-emerge
High-tech maritime threat: Recent collisions between US Navy warships and commercial vessels have led to speculation among military experts that China could be using electronic means to disrupt or fool radar or navigation systems into causing mishaps at sea, raising the specter of exotic weapons being deployed in a future conflict with the US, Bill Gertz writes. China has developed some of the world’s most advanced military electronic warfare weapons, including jammers, disruptors and cyber tools that can cause electronics to malfunction mysteriously, or to operate in ways that can cause them to self-destruct. The US Navy said investigators would determine whether the electronic defenses of the ships involved were disrupted or fooled in an intentional act. READ THE STORY HERE