The destroyer Fitzgerald is slated to be moved Tuesday in to dry dock on Fleet Activities Yokosuka, Japan, for continued repairs and assessments into damage from its collision with a container ship off the Japanese coast last month, U.S. Navy officials said.

Seven Fitzgerald sailors died in the June 17 collision, one of the worst at-sea disasters for the Navy in decades.

The destroyer's collision with the hulking ACX Crystal left a tractor trailer-size hole in the destroyer's starboard side.

There is no indication a collision alarm sounded, and some sailors were awoken by salt water flooding into their rack as they scrambled to evacuate, sources told Defense News.

Assessments will now be conducted to inform the sea service's options for long-term repair, according to Navy officials.

As investigations into the collision continue, questions remain about how the Crystal was ever able to get so close to one of the Navy's most advanced ships.

"It’s virtually unprecedented," Lawrence Brennan, a retired Navy captain who now teaches admiralty law at Fordham University's School of Law, said last month. "For two large ships, both operated by world-class shipping companies, to be in waters where they should expect traffic and not see each other, boggles the imagination."

Geoff is the editor of Navy Times, but he still loves writing stories. He covered Iraq and Afghanistan extensively and was a reporter at the Chicago Tribune. He welcomes any and all kinds of tips at geoffz@militarytimes.com.

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