Posted on 02/13/2005 10:23:15 AM PST by NCSteve
You have to feel for everyone involved, but IMO the Navy has done the right thing.
PING
I was shocked to see the Navy did anything. Must have been too much to cover up in case anyone went poking around.
I think its pretty much a rule if you run aground the Capt.'s career is pretty much gone. Damned shame too because he had to be exceptional to be a Submarine Capt. and the US has a lot of money invested in him.
He did a great job of saving the vessel, but that was after the mistakes were made.
First there was a mountain. Then there was no mountain. Then there was.
He is responsible if other charts showed it and they were truly in his control. However the cartographer and his commanders need to be held responsible too.
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Well its CLEAR that Lord Nelson had a chart that showed this mountain.... bzzzzzzzzzzzt!
No, this does not pass the smell test does it? Seems to me you get one set of maps and those would be the official ones. How many people drive with two or three maps? I dont see how the navy can expect captains to do cartography and drive at the same time.
I also thought that they were running silent. So was there a sounding really or no? If so, did the sounding really show anything?
I have not made my mind up about this, but it does not seem like it should end this guys career.
The unstated risk is that we create a bunch of risk averse general mcclellands when a war breaks out.
The problem here, just like so many other issues, is that the MSM ran with the story before the Navy had finished the investigation. I don't recall that there was ever an official statement from the Navy saying that the sea mount was uncharted. But every time we read articles about it, "Navy sources" were cited saying that it wasn't charted. The MSM wanted it to be uncharted so that they could blame the Navy and ultimately, the Defense Dep't, for this tragic event.
Not sure if I'd trust No Ka Oi with a job like this.
Sorry Commander, but you F/Ued right there.
So much for learning from one's own mistakes.
I would be interesting to see the damage to the boat. Obviously, the forward MBT's must have been severely damaged and couldn't hold the air from the LP Blower. Venting the diesel exhaust into the MBT is something that is not done on a regular basis. Certain safety interlocks have to be overridden have to be done to do so. Must have been very tense while trying to figure that out.
YFI
"I also thought that they were running silent. So was there a sounding really or no? If so, did the sounding really show anything?"
The boat was reported doing 30 knots...at that speed you will be heard in Moscow; It's called cavitation.. you are not running silent...silent is slow - 8 knots or less...If he was running at speed, I don't think he would have heard the echo of his own sonar....he truely was flying blind and
totally relying on the charts....Two mistakes: relied on the charts (hard not to) and keeping the old ones to be found later........
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1330034/post
Saw it somewhere yesterday. Also mentioned that he may well be charged in the one death.
I figured this was coming.
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