While investigations continue into the June 17 collision of the destroyer USS Fitzgerald and merchant vessel ACX Crystal off Japan, the Navy on Thursday released harrowing details of crew members’ efforts to escape a rapidly flooding berthing compartment in waters that were first up to their waist, then to their necks and then quickly submerged the entire compartment.

The 728-foot containership’s bulbous underwater bow punched a 13-by-17-foot hole in the Fitzgerald’s second and third decks below the main deck at 1:30 a.m., allowing seawater to rush into Berthing 2, an area with 42 beds spanning the width of the ship.

“Seconds after impact, sailors in Berthing 2 started yelling, ‘Water on deck!’ and ‘Get out!’” the Navy report said. “One sailor saw another knocked out of his rack by water. Others began waking up shipmates who had slept through the initial impact. At least one sailor had to be pulled from his rack and into the water before he woke up.”

Sailors lined up at a ladder leading to a hatch as the water rose around them. As water filled the compartment, two sailors at the top of the ladder were able to grab two others who were underwater.

The last sailor to be pulled from Berthing 2 was knocked to the floor by the force of the oncoming flood. At one point he was pinned between lockers and the ceiling, but was able to reach for a pipe on the ceiling and pull himself free.

“He made his way to the only light he could see,” which was coming from the hatch, called a “scuttle,” the report said. “He was swimming toward the watertight scuttle when he was pulled from the water, red-faced and with bloodshot eyes. He reported that when taking his final breath before being saved, he was already submerged and breathed in water.”

The escape is recounted in a preliminary inquiry and “line of duty” investigation that examines damage control activities, injuries and deaths that occurred. It is one of three Navy investigations underway into the collision that killed seven sailors and injured three others — including the commanding officer.

Those three inquiries are the line of duty investigation, a safety investigation and a “dual purpose” or “admiralty” investigation, the Navy said. The admiralty investigation informs leadership decisions as to how to hold Fitzgerald leadership and crew accountable.

Rear Adm. Brian Fort, who was to assume command of Navy Region Hawaii on June 23, saw his arrival delayed when he was appointed by 7th Fleet commander Vice Adm. Joseph Aucoin to serve as investigating officer of the admiralty investigation into the Fitzgerald accident.

With a reading of his orders at an “all-hands call” Aug. 9 at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Fort officially became commander of Navy Region Hawaii and Naval Surface Group Middle Pacific.

His part of the Fitzgerald investigation is under review by the 7th Fleet, and even though his work in Japan is finished, he remains an investigating officer for the collision, the Navy said.

The 7th Fleet announced Thursday that Fitzgerald commanding officer Cmdr. Bryce Benson had been relieved of his duties. Benson was previously temporarily relieved due to medical reasons from injuries sustained during the collision. Others were also relieved, the Navy said Thursday.

What additional punishment is forthcoming, including the possibility of court-martial, is unclear.

The 9,000-ton Fitzgerald, home-ported in Yokosuka, Japan, was about 56 nautical miles southwest of Yokosuka in the early morning hours of June 17 when it and the 29,000-ton Crystal collided. The left side of the Crystal’s bow struck the Fitzgerald’s right side above and below the waterline.

The impact caused the 505-foot destroyer to tilt 14 degrees to the left and then 7 degrees to the right as the sea flooded into Berthing 2, the Navy report said.

Thirty-five sailors were in the berthing area at the time of impact. Twenty-eight escaped and seven perished. Sailors described rapid flooding, estimating later that the berthing area was nearly flooded within 30 to 60 seconds.

By the time the third sailor to leave was at the ladder, the water was already waist deep. Debris including mattresses, furniture, an exercise bike and wall lockers floated about.

Sailors recalled that after the initial shock they lined up “in a relatively calm and orderly manner to climb the port side ladder and exit through the port side watertight scuttle,” the report said.

As the last group of sailors to escape through the hatch arrived at the bottom of the ladder, the water was up to their necks. One sailor escaped via the starboard side of Berthing 2 against the incoming sea, finding a small pocket of air in the space that was rapidly filling with water, taking a final breath and swimming underwater.

The beds of the seven sailors who died were directly in the path of the in-rushing water. Divers later entered the hole in the side of the ship and found the deceased crew members.

Benson, the ship’s commander, was in his cabin and was injured and trapped when the Crystal’s bow “directly struck his cabin” above the waterline, the Navy report said.

Five sailors used a sledgehammer and their bodies to break through the door, and a junior officer and two chief petty officers were able to remove debris and crawl into the cabin.

“The skin of the ship and outer bulkhead were gone and the night sky could be seen through the hanging wires and ripped steel,” the investigation stated. Benson was found “hanging from the side of the ship.”

After escaping Berthing 2, some helped treat injuries and pass out food and water, while others assisted with damage control.

“The crew of the Fitzgerald fought hard in the dark of night to save their ship. Ultimately, those damage control efforts … succeeded in safely bringing Fitzgerald into port under her own power,” Rear Adm. Charles Williams, commander of Carrier Strike Group 5, said in the investigation.

He added, “Through their swift and, in many cases, heroic actions, members of the Fitzgerald crew saved lives. No damage control efforts, however, would have prevented Berthing 2 from flooding completely within the first two minutes following the collision.”