Navy says tight budget, stress on fleet don't excuse crashes

WASHINGTON — A senior U.S. Navy officer says the hectic pace of military operations and constrained military budget don't excuse deadly warship accidents in the Pacific region.

During congressional testimony Thursday, Adm. William Moran, the vice chief of naval operations, says the service is "shocked" by the collisions involving USS John S. McCain and the USS Fitzgerald. Seventeen American sailors died in the collisions with commercial vessels.

Moran says, "We shouldn't be and cannot be colliding with other ships and running aground."

The Navy has launched an intensive review of the collisions in June and August as well as two earlier incidents. In January, the USS Antietam ran aground near Yokosuka base in Japan, and in May the USS Lake Champlain had a minor collision with a South Korean fishing boat.