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.
---
On the Net:
U.S. Pacific Fleet: http://www.cpf.navy.mil
AP-ES-01-08-05 0343EST
Thank you meg for the update on Zack, the 839 post were more than I cared to read thru at this early hour in the morning :-) Glad Zack is okay
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1316627/posts?page=824#824
I just received some solid info. A certain answer to prayer , my son Zack is among the uninjured. Sweet news tempered with heartfelt regret for those who are hurt and worse and their loved ones.
The san fran is due to arrive in port at Guam monday 1:00 am est.For information try calling 671-339-5201 (naval operations in guam). They were very concerned and helpful. Duty crews are being assembled from the other ships in port to immeadietly releive the crew of the san fran upon its arrival. thanks all.
824 posted on 01/09/2005 5:16:01 PM CST by rsobin
Here's the post..
Thank you. I don't know why it didn't show up in my search.
Prayers on the way for your son and the rest of the crew.
Shaft alley.
Pinging with updated news.
The U.S.S. San Francisco is back home after a deadly crash at sea. The nuclear submarine ran aground Saturday afternoon about 350 miles to the south of Guam. The San Francisco limped into Apra Harbor under her own power at about 3 this afternoon.
While the damage from Saturday's grounding is not immediately evident, there did appear to be a forward list as she sailed past the breakwater. The true damages though are the ones that you couldn't see.
Below decks 23 sailors have injuries ranging from broken bones to lacerations to whiplash, and a number of the rest of the crew have scrapes and bruises. And most tragically, 24-year-old Machinist Mate 2nd Class Joseph Allen Ashley lost his life.
Pacific Submarine Support Force spokesperson Lt. Commander Jeff Davis says the petty officer, whose hometown is listed as Akron, Ohio, was standing watch in an engineering compartment when the accident happened and sustained significant trauma to the head, resulting in his death on Sunday. The Navy spokesperson says the accident has impacted the submarine community.
"This is felt in submarines all over the world, and not just our Navy but a lot of the foreign navy's we work with are grieving over; it was a terrible tragedy and it was a terrible accident and we're going to do everything we can to make sure it never happens again," he told KUAM News.
While Machinist Mate 2nd Class Ashley has no relatives on Guam, a number of the other crew members do and their families lined the Sierra Dock at Apra Harbor to see their loved ones arrive. Lt. Commander Davis says the families have been kept up to speed with how their loved ones are doing and says the Navy will not just tend those who were physically injured. Said Lt. Commander Davis, "Anytime you have a tragedy of this nature aboard a submarine we want to do everything we can to take care of our family, our Navy family aboard and we have chaplains, we have people who are trained counselors who will be taken aboard and be given a chance to meet with the crew and help them through this grieving process."
Details on how the accident occurred are still sketchy. While Commander Davis says the accident occurred about 350 miles south of Guam in the Caroline Ridge, he would not release the speed the submarine was traveling at, or its depth. And Commander Davis wouldn't speculate on how an accident like this could happen. He was emphatic however, when speaking of what the sub hit.
When asked if there was any indication that it might have been another submarine or another vessel, Commander Davis said, "No...there's absolutely no reason to believe that it was anything other than a geographical feature under water."
This afternoon Lt. Commander Davis said the Navy plans to conduct a thorough investigation so that "a tragedy like this never happens again." The Caroline Ridge is east of Palau and Yap, intersecting the Yap Trench from the east, and consisting of a chain of seamounts.
Another update...
The U.S.S. San Francisco is pulling into Apra Harbor, returning to its local homeport after having run aground Saturday afternoon about 350 miles south of Guam. More than 20 people were injured aboard the nuclear submarine. A Navy sailor, whose name has not been released, died from injuries he sustained from the collision.
According to Pacific Submarine Forces spokesperson, Lieutenant Commander Jeff Davis, the name of the victim will be released at 5pm Guam time.
KUAM has confirmed that there is another Sailor who is in serious condition. A total of 23 sailors were injured when the vessel ran aground. They remain onboard the ship until it arrives to its homeport of Guam. The U.S. Coast Guard over the weekend dispatched a medical team to the submarine to treat the injured. According to the Navy, the injuries include broken bones, lacerations and bruises.
"The U.S.S. San Francisco was in the area of the Caroline Ridge," said Lt. Commander Davis. The Caroline Ridge is east of Palau and Yap, intersecting the Yap Trench from the east, and consists of a chain of seamounts. The Navy will not release at what depth or the speed at which it was traveling when it ran aground. Added Lt. Commander Davis, "We have absolutely no reason to believe that the submarine hit anything other than a geographic feature".
An investigation is underway. The Navy could not provide how much in damage was done to the vessel, with Lt. Commander Davis adding, "We are actively investigating this incident so that it will never happen again.
More info on MM2(SS) Ashley, God rest his soul.
MANCHESTER (AP) -- Family members confirmed that the sailor killed when the nuclear submarine USS San Francisco ran aground south of Guam was Joseph Ashley, 24, of Manchester, near Akron.
23 other sailors suffered broken bones, bruises and cuts in the incident on Saturday. Ashley, a second-class machinist, graduated in 1999 from Manchester High School where he played drums with the high school marching band, his mother, Vicki Ashley, said on Sunday.
She said he followed the footsteps of his father, Daniel Ashley, who served eight years in the Navy during the Vietnam War. Vicki Ashley said that just a few months ago, her son re-enlisted in the Navy for five more years.
In June, he received his Dolphin pin, which qualified him as a submariner.
Friends and neighbors placed small American flags on the lawn of his family's home.
Posted 6:05am, Monday, January 10, 2005 by AEB
""Blind Man's Bluff" "
Great read.
I wonder if the story about the Russian Sub breaking apart during the salvage by the Glomar Explorer is true, or was a cover story because we retrieved the entire boat?
Pinging the list. See above for arrival pic.
Update
It's just underwater. Unlike older classes, 688's only have two compartments. They can't withstand flooding to either one.
Usually the GRP dome is more prominent than this.
IMO, the forward ballast tanks got ripped good and the bow is down.
Never knew we had that capability.
Wow, must have breeched the forward MBT's. That or the dome is gone an the drag is forcing the bow down.
"Now I'll havta kill ya!"
(Not a physicist) A wave traveling at hundreds of mph doesn't mean any water is moving that fast. In a normal wave the particles move in a little circle as it passes. In a tsunami they do the same thing. The main difference is the wavelength. Tsunamis in the open deep ocean are only a few inches deep, just really long. A sub in deep water when a tsunami passed would simply find itself in a few inches deeper water for a few minutes as the wave passed over. That is the reason they surprise people on shore - they are very hard to detect until they bunch up in shallow water.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.