joseph aucoin, u.s. 7th fleet commander: "...and you can't see most of the damage.amage is mostly underneath the water line, and it's a large gash near the keel of the ship..."in the middle of the night, a filipino container ship -- almost three times the size of the destroyer -- crashed into the side of the fitzgerald.two of the damaged compartments house the sleeping quarters for more than 100 crew members -- many of whom were likely asleep. vice adm. joseph aucoin, u.s. 7th fleet commander: "...the water flow was tremendous, and so there wasn't a lot of time in those spaces that were open to the sea."it was inside those flooded berthing compartments that search teams found the bodies of seven sailors sunday morning.as for commander bryce benson, the ship's commanding officer... vice adm. joseph aucoin, u.s. 7th fleet commander: "he is, uhh... he was medi-vac'd. his cabin was destroyed. he's lucky to be alive."vice admiral joseph aucoin says the loss of life could have been much worse, and he praised the crew, which had to fight just to keep the destroyer afloat.

joseph aucoin, u.s. 7th fleet commander: "...and you can't see most of the damage. damage is mostly underneath the water line, and it's a large gash near the keel of the ship..."in the middle of the night, a filipino container ship -- most three times the size of the destroyer -- crashed into the side of the fitzgerald.two of the damaged compartments house the sleeping quarters for more than 100 crew members -- many of whom were likely asleep. vice adm. joseph aucoin, u.s. 7th fleet commander: "...the water flow was tremendous, and so there wasn't a lot of time in those spaces that were open to the sea."it was inside those flooded berthing compartments that search teams found the bodies of seven sailors sunday morning.as for commander bryce benson, the ship's commanding officer... vice adm. joseph aucoin, u.s. 7th fleet commander: "he is, uhh... he was medi-vac'd. his cabin was destroyed. he's lucky to be alive."vice admiral joseph aucoin says the loss of life could have been much worse, and he praised the crew, which had to fight just to keep the destroyer afloat.

joseph aucoin, u.s. 7th fleet commander: "...and you can't see most of the damage.amage is mostly underneath the water line, and it's a large gash near the keel of the ship..."in the middle of the night, a filipino container ship -- almost three times the size of the destroyer -- crashed into the side of the fitzgerald.two of the damaged compartments house the sleeping quarters for more than 100 crew members -- many of whom were likely asleep. vice adm. joseph aucoin, u.s. 7th fleet commander: "...the water flow was tremendous, and so there wasn't a lot of time in those spaces that were open to the sea."it was inside those flooded berthing compartments that search teams found the bodies of seven sailors sunday morning.as for commander bryce benson, the ship's commanding officer... vice adm. joseph aucoin, u.s. 7th fleet commander: "he is, uhh... he was medi-vac'd. his cabin was destroyed. he's lucky to be alive."vice admiral joseph aucoin says the loss of life could have been much worse, and he praised the crew, which had to fight just to keep the destroyer afloat.

joseph aucoin, u.s. 7th fleet commander: "...and you can't see most of the damage.ly underneath the water line, and it's a large gash near the keel of the ship..."in the middle of the night, a filipino container ship -- almost three times the size of the destroyer -- crashed into the side of the fitzgerald.two of the damaged compartments house the sleeping quarters for more than 100 crew members -- many of whom were likely asleep. vice adm. joseph aucoin, u.s. 7th fleet commander: "...the water flow was tremendous, and so there wasn't a lot of time in those spaces that were open to the sea."it was inside those flooded berthing compartments that search teams found the bodies of seven sailors sunday morning.as for commander bryce benson, the ship's commanding officer... vice adm. joseph aucoin, u.s. 7th fleet commander: "he is, uhh... he was medi-vac'd. his cabin was destroyed. he's lucky to be alive."vice admiral joseph aucoin says the loss of life could have been much worse, and he praised the crew, which had to fight just to keep the destroyer afloat. ( mark ) befo

. >> vice admiral joseph aucoin heads the fleet based in japan. he called the damage to the fitzgerald significant and the imdk-- impact talkic. in the middle of the night it collided with a container ship. aucoin says it was the heroic efforts of the crew thattive sad the fits ger alt potentially sinking with 300 sailors on board. >> you can't see most of the damage. the damage is mostly underneath the water line and it is a large gash. >> in addition, the navy sailters who lost their lives, three others had to be airlifted off the ship by the japanese coast guard. they are said to be responsive, including the ship's commander bryce ben son. his compartment was destroyed in the collision and the navy says he is lucky to be alive. >> the navy will now launch an investigation into what caused this commission. while it did happen in the dark of night, they routinely have watch teams on board to make sure this kind of thing does not happen. they say that the ship is salvageable and the head of the seven fleet says it will sail again. >> morgan: ben t

." >> reporter: vice admiral joseph aucoin heads the u.s. 7th fleet based in japan.e called the damage to the "fitzgerald" significant and the impact traumatic. in the middle of the night it collided with a container ship more than three times its size. aucoin says it was the heroic efforts of the crew that saved the fitzgerald from potentially sinking with 300 sailors on board. >> you can't see most of the damage. the damage is mostly underneath the water line. and it's a large gash. >> reporter: in addition, the navy sailors who lost their lives, three others had to be airlifted off the ship by the japanese coast guard. they are said to be responsive, including the ship's commander, bryce benson. his compartment was destroyed in the collision, and the navy says he is lucky to be alive. the navy will now launch an investigation into what caused this collision. while it did happen in the dark of night, they routinely have watch teams on board to make sure this kind of thing does not happen. they say that the ship is salvageable, and the head of the 7th fleet says it

. >> reporter: vice admiral joseph aucoin declined to say how many bodies were recovered but said the search for the ship's seven missing sailors has ended. >> it was traumatic. as to how much warning they had, i don't know. >> reporter: he said many crew members were sleeping recall saturday when the destroyer collided with a much larger filipino container ship. two sleeping areas for over 100 crew members were severely damaged letting water flood inside. the crew fought to keep the warship floating as tugboats towed it back to shore. >> there's the heroic efforts of the ship's crew. they prevented this ship from foundering or even sinking last night. >> reporter: three people on board were medically evacuated including the ship's commanding officer, bryce benson, who is in stable condition. the collision took place in one of the world's busiest waterways, the u.s. and japan investigating the cause. >> the navy says it has transferred the victims' remains to a naval hospital in japan. >>> suspected jihadists attacked a luxury resort in the african nation of mali taking hostages killi

the vice admiral, joseph aucoin, commander of the fleet, had to fight to keep the ship afloat. >> the damage is under the water line mostly, and it's a large gash near the keel of the ship. >> reporter: the japanese coast guard said the "acx crystal" plowed into the "fitzgerald" at 1:30 a.m. a web site shows the crystal making a sharp change of course at exactly that time, as if it had run into something and was coming about the see what it was. the container ship had a crew of only 20, and may well have been operating on autopilot. the fitzgerald and its crew of 300 was outbound. its bridge watch would have included an officer of the deck, radar operators and lookouts. they should have been able to see the crystal tomming from at least ten miles away. that would leave plenty of time to alter course and to alert the captain. but commander bryce benson was still in his cabin when the crystal struck. >> his cabin was destroyed. he's lucky to be alive. >> reporter: an investigation will determine who made what mistakes, but in the u.s. navy, the captain is held responsible for everything

vice admiral joseph aucoin heads the u.s. 7th fleet. >> it's hard to imagine what this crew has had toure, the challenges they've had to overcome. but i'm extremely proud of their courage and dedication. >> reporter: the navy has begun to search the damaged sections ip the ship to see if any of the missing crew memberes were trapped inside or if they were thrown overboard during the collision. this particular area near tokyo bay is an extremely busy shipping lane, but accidents like this involving a military vessel are still rare. japanese authorities will now tialyze both ships' navigation records for clues as to what caused the collision. nde commander of the u.s. 7th fleet was at the pier in japan with family members of the crew when the "fitzgerald" arrived. he said it was a difficult day, but that he was humbled by the they are bravery getting the chip back to port. reena. >> ninan: ben, thank you. for the first time since taking office, president trump is visiting the presidential repreet camp david in the mountains of maryland. it's a more rustic setting than mr. trump's luxury

joseph aucoin commander of the seventh fleet said the crew had to struggle to keep the ship afloat. >> damage underneath the water line and a large gash. near the keel of the ship. >> the japanese coast guard said the "acx crystal" plowed into the fitzgerald at 1:30 a.m. low cult time. as philippine flag vessel headed from nagoya to offload cargo in tokyo bay. a website that tracks commercial vessels shows the crystal making a sharp change of course at exactly that time. as if it had run into something, and was coming about to see what it was. the container ship had a crew of only 20. and may well have been operating on autopilot. the fitzgerald and its crew was outbound. its bridge watch would have included an officer of the deck, radar operators and lookouts. they should have been able to see the crystal coming from at least 10 miles away. that would leave plenty of time to alter course and to alert the captain. but commander bryce benson was still in his cabin when the crystal struck. >> his cabin was destroyed. he is lucky to be alive. >> reporter: an investigation will determine

. >> that's vice admiral joseph aucoin, the commander of the u.s. seventh fleet. for more, we're joined by kaori enjoji. what more did we learn? >> i think now we have a level of the frenzy and panic aboard the uss fitzgerald. it was so severe that they were trying to pump the water out of key areas of the ship to prevent it from trying to sipg. but take a listen to what the vice admiral had to say in explaining that situation. >> it was traumatic. as to how much warning they had, i don't know. that's going to be found out during the investigation. but it was a significant impact that the crew had to fight very hard to keep the ship afloat. >> he went on explaining that there was a big gash in the area where the collision took place between the fitzgerald and this merchant ship that was traveling across the coast of japan. and so big was it that there was flooding in certain areas, the machine room, in the sleeping quarters, two of the sleeping quarters where more than a hundred of seamen who were aboard the fitzgerald were probably sleeping at 2:30 a.m. so it was