Posted on 02/13/2005 10:23:15 AM PST by NCSteve
The captain of a submarine that hit a seamount Jan. 8 in the western Pacific Ocean, killing one crewman and seriously injuring 23 others, has been found guilty of operating the submarine unsafely and has been issued a letter of reprimand, effectively ending his career.
Cmdr. Kevin Mooney, the captain of the USS San Francisco, was permanently relieved as skipper after an administrative proceeding known as an admiral's mast. The proceeding was convened by an order of the commander of the Seventh Fleet, Vice Adm. Jonathan Greenert.
Cmdr. Ike N. Skelton, a spokesman for the Seventh Fleet in Yokosuka, Japan, said late Friday night that Greenert determined during the investigation that Mooney failed to follow “several critical navigational and voyage planning” standards.
“By not ensuring those standards were followed, Mooney hazarded the vessel,” Skelton said, reading from a statement issued by Greenert.
The mast concluded that Mooney's crew had access to charts that showed there might have been an underwater obstruction in the area, and that a sounding taken just minutes before the accident did not correlate with the charts that were in use at the time, which should have prompted him to be more cautious.
The news stunned several Navy sources who have been following the accident investigation, particularly because Mooney's actions after the accident were characterized as heroic by everyone familiar with the situation. Despite extensive damage to the ship, he and his crew got it to the surface and kept it floating long enough to limp back to its homeport of Apra Harbor, Guam.
The San Francisco was heading to Australia when it came to periscope depth a little more than 400 miles southwest of Guam to fix its position accurately. Minutes after diving, and while traveling at a high rate of speed, the submarine slammed into a seamount in an area where official Navy charts list 6,000 feet of water.
Other charts of the area, however, show muddy water in the area, which normally indicates shallowness, and other government agency charts show evidence of the seamount less than 150 feet below the surface. The grounding destroyed three of the four ballast tanks in the submarine's bow, shattered the sonar dome and smashed the sonar sphere. In addition, a bulkhead at the front end of the ship was buckled.
Machinist Mate 3rd Class Joseph Ashley was killed when he was thrown more than 20 feet and struck his head on a large pump. Almost two-dozen others were injured so badly they could not perform their duties, though they have all since been treated and released from the hospital in Guam. Seventy-five others received less severe injuries.
The crew saved the ship by constantly running a low pressure blower meant for only intermittent use to force water out of the badly damaged forward ballast tanks, as well as using exhaust from the ship's diesel motor to augment the blower.
Despite the force of the blow, the nuclear reactor and the ship's turbine generators continued to operate normally, and even sensitive electronic and navigation gear continued to function.
On Jan. 20, Mooney was reassigned to Submarine Squadron 15 in Guam, pending the results of an investigation to determine the cause of the sub's grounding. Cmdr. Andrew Hale, the squadron's deputy commander, assumed duties as captain of the San Francisco.
The mast means that Mooney will not face a more serious proceeding known as a court martial, but the letter of reprimand and the decision to relieve him of command “for cause” means that his promising career is over, the Navy sources said.
In a related development, Lt. Cmdr. Jeff A. Davis, a spokesman for the Pacific submarine force commander, said late Friday night that assessment of the damage to the San Francisco is proceeding and that shipyard workers in Guam are planning to make temporary repairs to the bow of the ship so it can be moved under its own power to a shipyard where it can be repaired.
Although the location where it will be repaired has not been determined, Navy sources said it would likely be Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, or Bangor, Wash.
“These temporary repairs will be engineered to ensure a successful transit,” Davis said. “As part of having on-hand materials for potential use in these temporary repairs, a large steel dome about 20 feet high and 20 feet in diameter will be arriving at Guam in the next few days. As of now, no decisions have been made about when USS San Francisco will depart Guam, where it will go, or what her final disposition will be.”
Other Navy sources said that if the assessment determines it makes sense to repair rather than scrap the San Francisco, the Navy will likely use the entire bow section from the recently decommissioned USS Atlanta to replace the badly damaged bow of the San Francisco.
It was in 1999, which was the last time I set foot on a submarine (as a civilian).
Most are ignorant of the distinction. Admiral's mast is a very serious thing. But it's an administrative proceeding rather than a court of law.
I left the San Fran last August. We used a BQN-17. Notorious for reading whatever you want them to read. NO division (where the ex-QMs are) was also very junior.
I feel compelled to shed a little bit of light on CDR Mooney, since I served under him for eight months after his predecessor was ALSO forcibly relieved after an admiral's mast found him guilty of hitting something. Though I wasn't onboard for the crash or the return trip to Guam, I would give him and the crew credit for handling a bad situation well, after the fact. He did an admirable job dealing with the aftermath of a relatively small electrical fire that took a whole lot of equipment out of commission for a couple days.
On the other hand, everyone has their faults. When you see phrases like "high enlistment rates" you should be especially skeptical. Reenlisting is often the best way to get off the boat early, even if it extends your total time in the service. Also, though I unjustifiably got credit for running a division with 90 some % reenlistment, most of them personally confided in me that they simply needed the reenlistment bonus money in a bad way, didn't have anything else lined up and didn't want to move back home with their parents. I can personally verify that it's awfully hard to find a job on the mainland when your boat is homeported in Guam, some 5 or 6k miles away.
I feel for him because he tried to inject some positiveness into what seemed like a perpetually raw deal. I feel for the nav who is reportedly a broken man, I feel for everyone who got hurt, and I feel for MM2 "General Cooter" Ashley. He was one of the most cheerful guys on board.
If that were the case then he would have been given a medal instead of relieved.
Every report, everyone I know, everyone I talked to, all of the posts on here have come down on the side of the captain.
Thanks for the reply.
Just out of curiosity, how about a roll call? Maybe a conceit, but humor me if you will.
ET1-SS
Trieste II, DSV-1, 1975-1977
USS John C Calhoun, SSBN-630 Blue, 1977-1980
LOL! You sound like me.
You're totally correct about that.
The thinking was that older skippers would be more experienced and attack anything that moved. In reality, the older the skipper was then the more in touch with his own mortality he became.
When they started using younger skippers, Ltjg and LTs, sometimes an Lcdr is when they started getting all of the kills in the S. Pacific.
IC2-SS
SSN-680, 1971-1975
First there was a mountain. Then there was no mountain. Then there was.
The grounding of USS San Francisco (SSN 711)
(25 threads, covering 89 pages and more than 3,858 posts)
USS San Francisco Commander Guilty Of Hazarding Vessel
Posted by NCSteve 02/13/2005 10:23:15 AM PST · 40 replies
Submarine Commander Is Relieved From Post
Posted by AncientAirs 02/13/2005 2:52:41 AM PST · 13 replies
San Francisco Skipper Relieved of Command
Posted by Excuse_My_Bellicosity 02/12/2005 7:41:28 AM PST · 58 replies
Sub skipper to lose command
Posted by SmithL 02/11/2005 9:19:28 PM PST · 36 replies
Sources: USS San Francisco skipper faces admiral's mast in sub grounding
Posted by SmithL 02/11/2005 9:13:07 PM PST · 59 replies
More about the Submarine that Ran Aground and Why
Posted by tryon1ja 02/05/2005 3:02:13 PM PST · 98 replies
Good News on the USS San Francisco
Posted by Fred Hayek 02/01/2005 7:59:19 PM PST · 8 replies
Photo in the News: Crashed U.S. Nuclear Submarine
Posted by esryle 02/01/2005 7:38:46 PM PST · 26 replies
Navy publishes first photos of damaged sub
Posted by presidio9 01/28/2005 10:32:23 AM PST 37 replies
Additional pictures of damage to USS San Francisco, SSN-711
Posted by Bean Counter 01/28/2005 9:31:00 AM PS 43 replies
Navy Releases Photos of Crash Damage to Nuclear Submarine
Posted by neverdem 01/27/2005 8:29:43 PM PST 76 replies
Submarine Collision Photo
Posted by Thebaddog 01/27/2005 2:27:48 PM PST 25 replies
Navy photos of Submarine USS San Francisco in Dry Dock (you won't believe the extent of damage!)
Posted by Boot Hill 01/27/2005 12:42:24 PM PST 533 replies
Pic of the USS San Francisco
Posted by submarinerswife 01/25/2005 2:29:55 PM PST 170 replies
Navy Reassigns Commander of Submarine That Ran Aground in Pacific
Posted by Sub-Driver 01/20/2005 9:22:10 AM PST 59 replies
Skipper of submarine San Francisco relieved of command
Posted by SmithL 01/20/2005 7:33:30 AM 179 replies
Submarine Crash Shows Navy Had Gaps in Mapping System
Posted by neverdem 01/14/2005 8:30:19 PM PST 231 replies
Sources Say Crew's Heroics Saved Sub
Posted by Bottom_Gun 01/12/2005 10:26:35 AM PST 125 replies
E-Mail Shows Toll of Crash on Submarine
Posted by Born Conservative 01/12/2005 10:04:25 AM PST 53 replies
Damage To Submarine Believed Severe
Posted by Boot Hill 01/12/2005 1:19:46 AM PST 75 replies
Navy Says Sub Hit Mountain That Was Not on Its Charts
Posted by neverdem 01/11/2005 7:32:26 PM PST 307 replies
Officials: U.S. submarine hit undersea mountain
Posted by holymoly 01/10/2005 3:04:10 PM PST 318 replies
Crewman Dies Aboard U.S. Submarine That Ran Aground
Posted by LibWhacker 01/09/2005 10:03:02 AM PST 139 replies
U.S. nuclear sub runs aground in Pacific, 20 sailors injured
Posted by Pikamax 01/08/2005 8:14:47 PM PST 29 replies
Nuclear Submarine Runs Aground South of Guam
Posted by Jet Jaguar 01/08/2005 3:19:47 AM PST 1,096 replies
--Boot Hill
Scamp, SSN-588, 1963-64, deck gang, dolphins
Nuke school, 64-65, MINSY/A1W Idaho
Kitty Hawk, CVA-63, 65-66, Tonkin Gulf (go figure!)
Daniel Boone, SSBN-629B, 66 - 68, 4 patrols
Seahorse, SSN-669, 68 - 70, plankowner
FICPAC, Pearl Harbor, 70 - 73, crypto/comm
I can guaran-damn-tee you that every U.S.Navy vessel now has the location of that seamount pencilled in on their charts.
My cheif once asked me what was going to happen if the piece of equipment that I had bypassed some overly cautious procedure to repair broke. He was less than pleased with my answer: "The Navy will come up with another ridiculous program to keep it from happening again."
I kinda had a bad attitude that day. ;-)
I don't think you really appreciate how enormous the Pacific Ocean is.
I am somewhat surprised that the Navy doesn't de-comm the ship with the draw-down in the sub force and all.
I understand that SanFrancisco was recently refueled. That can't be easy or cheap.
It costs about $20 million to do a refueling overhaul.
I am impressed with his damage control after the incident, rescuing the sub, bringing it to the surface, thereby sparing the lives of the rest of the crew. That a sailor died is disheartening. Being trapped under the ocean is not my idea of fun. I can only imagine that there were some frightening moments for all onboard. I hope that the Captain’s overall response to the emergency is taken into consideration, as well as the charts that were officially supplied. It would be worth investigating the data contained in the charts with a comprehensive re-mapping of the area to be done NOW. If the official charts are severely at variance with updated data taken from a new survey of the area that should definitely be taken into consideration as well.
Having said all that, traveling at 30 or so knots in an area of indeterminate terrain sounds unnecessarily risky.
I hope the Truth comes out and all factors examined, including and "PC" culture which may have contributed to potentially faulty, potentially obsolete data.
> Maybe some lessons can be learned here so that this incident is not repeated?
Bottom line; thank God the rest of the crew made it. Condolences to the family of the sailor who lost his life serving his country.
USS Batfish (SSN-681) - '85-'91
USS Narwhal (SSN-671) - '91 (TAD)
USS Seahorse (SSN-669) - '91-'93
USS Atlanta (SSN-712) - '96-'97
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