WARSAW, Poland - A U.S. official says an American sailor fired three accidental shots from a machine gun aboard a Navy ship moored in a Polish port. No one was injured.
U.S. Embassy spokesman Andrew Paul says a sailor from the USS Ramage accidentally discharged three shots during routine maintenance on a M240 machine gun while the ship was in the port of Gdynia on Wednesday morning.
Paul says the incident did not result in any injuries or damage. He said Thursday that U.S. officials and the Polish military police were investigating.
The USS Ramage is a guided missile destroyer whose home base is in Norfolk, Virginia.
My favorite comment over on the main page under comments was made by Forliftsrus, (A Retired Master Chief), he said, “ Sailors should not be allowed to handle anything smaller than a 5-inch gun. They blasted Pearl City with a CIWS a while back, and hand guns have always been a problem for them”.
I about feel out of my chair when I read that!!!...
Truth be know, As the NRA says, “Gun Safety is no accident”. Weapons/Firearms/Weapons systems safety procedures are so common sense it is rediculous. This situation aboard the Ramage is just a plain ND, “Negligent Discharge”, no more no less.(Poor on the spot supervision too). Having been dead in the middle of someone elses ND at one time, it ain’t no fun, we were all checking for leaks right now!!!.. We had a ND at work a few weeks back in one of our “Facilties”. A SWAT deputy who was Looking all Cool, High Speed and Low Drag in all his gear managed to “Double Tap” himself in the upper left leg with his M4. He was damned lucky, two inches to the right and he could have easily bleed to death. And sadly now the U.S.S. RAMAGE (DDG-61) will always be remember by the locals as that American Warship that “Fired Up” Gdynia harbor, Poland.
My favorite comment over on the main page under comments was made by Forliftsrus, (A Retired Master Chief), he said, “ Sailors should not be allowed to handle anything smaller than a 5-inch gun. They blasted Pearl City with a CIWS a while back, and hand guns have always been a problem for them”.
I about feel out of my chair when I read that!!!...
My favorite reply was made by "yanqui69" "Are we sure it wasn't aimed at Joe Biden who was in country doing damage control on the missile fiasco????" _____________________________________________
I repeat the above persons comment only for the "nice to know" information value, because as most everyone on here knows.
I would never, NEVER EVER make a disparaging remark about a member of our fledgling Politburo/Politbyuro
A very similar situation occured while I was on active duty. A marine during changeover while uploading his weapon sent 3 rounds out over our harbor. No one hurt, thank God. Our harbor security boat was a little ticked though.
The reason there are ND's(negligent discharges, I refuse to call them accidental), is because the safety sear on the 240 bravo, is weak, and when the feed tray cover is slammed down, it shoots, as the weapon is fired from the open bolt position. People make the mistake of setting the safety, then charging it,(which you could do on teh M-60) which puts too much strain on that sear, instead of the other way around. So basically, like anything else, education and training is paramount. There you have your weapons instruction for the day.
Originally posted by billdawg24: The reason there are ND's(negligent discharges, I refuse to call them accidental), is because the safety sear on the 240 bravo, is weak, and when the feed tray cover is slammed down, it shoots, as the weapon is fired from the open bolt position. People make the mistake of setting the safety, then charging it,(which you could do on teh M-60) which puts too much strain on that sear, instead of the other way around. So basically, like anything else, education and training is paramount. There you have your weapons instruction for the day.
I've seen similar NDs with the M-249 also. Could be the same issue.
