High resolution version here
Posted on 01/27/2005 12:42:24 PM PST by Boot Hill
The amount of damage is simply staggering!
That this boat ever made it back to port is a tribute to its designers, builders, and especially to the crew and captain. How does America keep finding men like these?
Titanic had far less damage from the iceberg.
Faith can move mountains-submarines can only try.
If this collision with the underwater mountain had occured before the tsunami, the US would have been billed for the entire cost of destruction.
Thank God the entire crew and the boat were not lost.
I see that. Frame is bent. That is going to give the boat a unique sonar signature from now on.
Wrong. See my post #119. As the commanding officer, it was his job to proceed in a prudent manner.
It was his resposibility to communicate to his superiors the fact that the area in which he was operating was uncharted, and therefore dangerous to move at flank speed in.
He was "the man on scene". If his orders conflicted with safety, it was his call to proceed.
Just a wild guess, but in order for that damage to occur on a seamount, short of hitting an overhanging ledge, I'm guessing she hit on the port side and rolled into and scraped along the side of the formation, causing the damage above and along the port side.
Shouldn't this be classified? Why are photographers allowed to get so close? Lousy Op Sec, IMHO.
IIRC thats the Kursk....they had a really bad day.
It sure took a beating from the looks of it.
Normally, I would think that the sub could be salvaged, however the San Francisco was commissioned in 1985, and while she was designed for about 30 years of service, the Navy has been retiring a number of LA class SSNs when they reach around 20, and they have more retirements planned for the near future. If the San Francisco wasn't planned for decommissioning in the upcoming years, I wouldn't be surprised if the Navy chose to retire the SF in place of another more healthy submarine.
I suppose they could cut away and replace the entire hull if necessary. The innerds wouldn't be critical and they were apparently going to outfit new equipment anyway.
Complaining is what it's all about!!!! Every branch of the military, every job in the world.
That is something that I have often wondered. Where do we find such men?
Now consider WHO gave him his orders for his transit. Was his position and speed IAW orders? How many other subs have made this same transit?
re: Any sub experts out there?
Well I don't know that I would pin an 'expert' button on my lapel, but I worked at a shipyard that built nuclear subs and my father was a hull inspector for the the Navy Bureau of Ships for a lot of years prior to his death. The sonar dome is largely air, it's a dome so they can mount transponders all round the sphere to collect data from different directions as an aide to pinpointing its origin. The mere fact that the vessel maintained its 'watertightness', especially at that depth (700 feet?) means that most of the damage is to area(s) outside the pressure hull.
Used to be (on slightly older reactors for the S6G power plant), you replaced the core every other major overhaul.
This much damage?
I'd use use her for a new reactor training boat. Keep it pierside.
Have read that the charts were not the latest. Not sure whose responsibility that would be, tho.
You wouldn't be an ST would you? signed, a Nuke.
Being "harnessed in" wouldn't have done much good in that exposed section, unless the harnessee was already wearing scuba gear.
What is YOUR expertise on submarine operations?
?
Trident?
No. Whoever told you about Tridents, or described the Tridents to you, should be corrected. Firmly.
She was an Improved 688 class.
And re-hook and rerun every cable in the front end?
Every pipe and every controller?
No. That would be a 350 million-600 million dollar job.
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.
