settlement from connecticut congressman joe courtney, for his remarks. >> they can, mr. chairman and to the admirals for their testimony today and i would like to recognize miss e ccles for putting a human subject on the topic we are discussing today. thank you. the circumstances that bring us to today's hearing part table and tragic. as our lead witness pointed out , in the span of 65 days, 17 sailors were lost in ship collisions and accident on naval vessels. these were not limited occurrences but part of a disturbing trend of mishaps in the asia-pacific region that since january has involved uss antietam, uss lake champlain, uss fitzgerald, and the mccain. to put that in perspective, these heartbreaking casualties are more than servicemembers that we have lost in the afghanistan war zone in 2017. two of those sailors are from my state of connecticut. the compass minerals estes -- thomas and estes is here today. -- congressman estes is here today. their families in the entire state of connecticut are mourning the loss of these two patriots and are watching the response of the n

much, joe courtney. we want to thank all our witnesses for you being here, but also in particular for your service to the american people to protect american families. also it is an opportunity for us to thank the professional sta who have been here and helpfu armed services committee is just blessed with remarkable people. we are particularly blessed with morgan dean. not only is she a professional staff member but she's a very appreciated member of the navy reserve. so at this time we shall adjourn. >> i thi what we are getting at the moment is specific to the incidents on board the fitzrald and mccain. i am interested to learn the breakdown with the assessment, at least in the timelines of