{"id":40479,"date":"2018-07-02T15:49:31","date_gmt":"2018-07-02T15:49:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2018\/07\/02\/one-year-later-a-fitzgerald-widow-wonders-why-her-husband-did-not-escape\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T19:37:50","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T19:37:50","slug":"one-year-later-a-fitzgerald-widow-wonders-why-her-husband-did-not-escape","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/news\/your-navy\/2018\/07\/02\/one-year-later-a-fitzgerald-widow-wonders-why-her-husband-did-not-escape\/","title":{"rendered":"One year later, a Fitzgerald widow wonders why her husband did not escape"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A widow from the Fitzgerald collision talks about her husband, and the aftermath of the crash.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n

Editor\u2019s note: This story is part of a series looking at the effects of the Fitzgerald and McCain collisions on sailors, families of the fallen and Big Navy. To read more, go here.<\/a><\/b><\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n

One year after the destroyer Fitzgerald<\/a> was gouged by a merchant vessel, flooding a living space and killing Noe Hernandez and six of his shipmates, Dora Hernandez walked those quarters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was June 17, the first anniversary of the disaster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 27-year-old widow joined several Fitz families who gathered in the Mississippi shipyard where the warship is undergoing repairs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Hernandez and other families of the Fitz fallen descended into the area, she was struck by how bare everything was.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was hard seeing her completely with her insides just out, exposed,\u201d Hernandez said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She had gone belowdecks before, while the stricken ship was still in Japan, along with her mother-in-law and a priest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe put holy water in the areas,\u201d Hernandez recalled recently. \u201cThat was the first time I saw the berthing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gone were the exercise bikes and lockers and mattresses that had been thrown about the quarters after the ACX Crystal gouged a 221-square-foot hole in the ship beneath the waterline and allowed the seawater to furiously flood in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was so small,\u201d she said. \u201cI knew the spaces were so small and there were no racks left or lockers, but you could see the outlines of the racks.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In the Mississippi shipyard this month, seven roses had been laid against the patched-up hole in the Fitz, she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They marked the loss of her husband, Tan Huynh, Gary Rehm, Dakota Rigsby, Carlos Sibayan, Shingo Douglass and Xavier Martin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAll I could think was, this is where my husband was, and this is where Rehm was and this was where Martin was, and this was where Douglass was, and this was where Sibayan was,\u201d Hernandez said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One year later, back home near the small Texas town where she met her husband and fell in love with him, Hernandez said she still wonders why Noe wasn\u2019t one of the shipmates who made it to the hatch and escaped to higher ground as the water flooded in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Noe and Dora Hernandez met in high school, and he first asked her out on his birthday. “I couldn’t say no,” Dora recalled. Hernandez was one of seven sailors aboard the warship Fitzgerald who died in a June 17, 2017, collision. (Photo courtesy Dora Hernandez)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

No one had much time. Water hit their berthing\u2019s ceiling in minutes and many sailors were asleep when the collision occurred at 1:30 a.m.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Noe was a healthy 26-year-old, his wife recalled. He loved to work out \u201cand he could swim for miles.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe still didn\u2019t make it out,\u201d Hernandez said. \u201cThat was the biggest thing for me. What were his last moments like?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Noe was vigilant, his wife said. He couldn\u2019t have been asleep.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Something must have slowed his escape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMaybe he tried to save his brothers,\u201d Hernandez said. \u201cHe had everything except time and air.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey worked them hard\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Noe (pronounced \u201cNo-ee\u201d) and Hernandez grew up in Weslaco, Texas, a town of about 40,000 not far from the Gulf coast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They met freshman year of high school in French class.<\/p>\n\n\n\t