Posted on 01/08/2005 3:19:47 AM PST by Jet Jaguar
HONOLULU (AP) - A nuclear submarine ran aground about 350 miles south of Guam, injuring several sailors, one of them critically, the Navy said.
There were no reports of damage to the USS San Francisco's reactor plant, which was operating normally, the Navy said.
Jon Yoshishige, a spokesman for the U.S. Pacific Fleet based at Pearl Harbor, said the Friday afternoon incident is under investigation and the 360-foot submarine was headed back to its home port in Guam.
Details on the sailors' injuries were not immediately available. The sub has a crew of 137, officials said.
Military and Coast Guard aircraft from Guam were en route to monitor the submarine and assist if needed, the Navy said.
Guam is a U.S. territory about 3,700 miles southwest of Hawaii.
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On the Net:
U.S. Pacific Fleet: http://www.cpf.navy.mil
AP-ES-01-08-05 0343EST
Someone just lost their job.
I hope those sailors are all right.
SSN 711
I'll be checking back to see if someone knowledgeable will explain how this might have happened. Bad navigation? Unexpected sandbar? And how does a submarine free itself - can you just put it in reverse?
ping
"Someone just lost their job."
My first thought...
The short answer is yes. The long answer is a lot depends on tides and currents and the structural integrity of the boat. I am sure so ex-dolphins will be by shortly to give you a much better explanation.
Ususally.
If I recall correctly, the Captain of the HOUSTON was allowed to run aground twice in the late eighties before a forced retirement.
The man was a running joke at San Diego.
.
The sub still has sonar, changed seafloor or no.
Wrong ocean.
God bless these guys - and prayers for their full recovery.
ditto
So....you're gonna defend the Captain? This is usually a pretty big no-no for a ship's commander, a career-ender.
One of the times the HOUSTON ran aground was in San Diego Harbor. I found out about it when the Captain's picture made the cover of "Proceedings" and a former crewmwmber of the SALT LAKE CITY was laughing about it.
nature doesn't necessarily color between the lines drawn by man
.
I imagined rocking it back and forth like you do a car stuck in the snow. I imagine the gearshift lever is a little different, though.
USS SAM HOUSTON runs aground in Carr Inlet of the southeast tip of Fox Island in the Puget Sound while operating in shallow water to determine how quiet the vessel is in water. The submarine is freed the next day by four tugs and the USS FLORIKAN (ASR 9) while the submarine's crew remains aboard. The SAM HOUSTON suffers minor damage to exterior hull equipment. Source
I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt
.
A submarine, while trying to remain hidden or following another submarine, will NOT use active sonar.
Sounds like SINS(Ships Inertial Navigation System) was in error......Bottom sounding sonar should have been manned or at least put on auto and set to alarm....some splainin' to do by the navigator and chief quartermaster.
yes it will...for bottom sounding.
Hmm, Chinese subs have been prowling around Guam.
"I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt"
He has the lives of 100+ people in his hands. He deserves no "benefit of the doubt".
darn sandbars are getting as bad as deer crossing the roads
Were there women aboard?
Is that the USS Sam Houston? Recall his name by any chance?
I'm on your side. Their mission was to go into shallow water. That's a tricky business. This guy could be a dynamite captain, and who knows the circumstances? I'm sure they don't release the technical details to FR first.
Wow! I'd hate to be the one that has to get out and put a piece of wood under the tire.
"He deserves no "benefit of the doubt"."
Sure he does. What if he had a stroke? What if there was a major malfunction, or sabotage? What if this is a cover up for something clandestine? What if? Hey, I'm all for being a conservative, pull-yourself-up by the bootstrap sort of person, but that doesn't mean we have to act like A-holes too.
Not good. The Navy can't afford to have this happen as DoD has just decided to cut three new attack subs from the budget to support ongoing operations of the WOT.
The CO of the "A" school I went to was the skipper of a ship when it ran aground. His nickname was "Captain Crunch".
LOL I can see sailors running back and further to get the sub rocking....
I'm a submarine veteran.
There aren't enough facts in the article to make a hypothesis. Have to wait for more to come out.
Were they submerged when they ran aground? Or on the surface? 350 miles from Guam tells me they were most likely submerged, but there is no way of knowing. A submerged collision with the sea floor is a serious thing, especially if they were going at high speed.
I dont think this is the result of hitting a sand bar. Too many injuries and too much damage.
Yes. This article is all too brief, and has mighty little content even for its brevity. We will just have to exercise patience and wait for more on this.
Some of us are not acting.
You run aground, you're fired.
Period.
I saw it happen often in Vietnam with LST's.
In civilian life the boss makes a mistake, it costs money, in the military, the boss (CO) makes a mistake, you pay for it with lives.
STROKE-- The capt doesn't drive. sorry.
MALFUNCTION-- The Capt should have known.
SABOTAGE--Nuke submariners are perhaps the most vetted people in the world. Sorry, this isn't a shoe bomber.
CLANDESTINE--We don't order our subs to "clandestingly strike the bottom".
It don't wash. With one sailor critical, the Capt screwed the pooch on this one.
As has been mentioned... "that depends" on what "run aground" means. But in general, if the ship isn't damaged they have lots of options. Remember that running aground in a surface ship is tough because you aren't afloat any longer. Getting off involves a lucky tide, and/or an application of power (that may or may not work). A submarine has an additional option caused by the fact that it isn't left high and dry. It can always just increase it's buoyancy and surface (again presuming a lack of crippling damage). It would really take an interesting collision to "trap" the sub in three dimensions.
Surface ships don't have an "up" option when run aground.
"You run aground, you're fired. Period"
Apparently some guy ran aground twice before he was fired.
This captain might get fired. I'll even go so far as to say he probably will. But lets wait for the judge show up before we shoot him.
I suspect this is a bottom collision, because the article says the boat was underway on its own power and heading into port with damage, and it was 350 miles from port and thats a long way to do a surface transit.
Lots of reasons a boat can strike something submerged. It may be a submerged object that is floating on the currents, or they may have struck the ocean floor in a shallow area.
Depending on the speed, the sonar may or may not be useful.
If this sub's a-rocking, don't . . .
Ah, never mind.
I was thinking that myself - active sonar is a death request. Or perhaps, has technology changed that much since my history reading?
Makes sense. Thanks.
Believe it or not, that is one way of changing the trim on a submarine.
Transferring people back and forth works.
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