Posted on 10/25/2007 7:39:15 PM PDT by blam
Nuclear Submarine Commander Removed
Friday October 26, 2007 3:16 AM
By CHELSEA J. CARTER
Associated Press Writer
LOS ANGELES (AP) - The commanding officer of the nuclear-powered submarine USS Hampton was relieved of his duty Thursday because of a loss of confidence in his leadership, the Navy said.
Cmdr. Michael B. Portland was relieved of duty after a U.S. Navy investigation found the ship failed to do daily safety checks on its nuclear reactor for a month and falsified records to cover up the omission.
``His oversight of the crew's performance did not identify these issues'' on his own, Navy Lt. Alli Myrick, a public affairs officer, told The Associated Press. Portland's commanders identified the problems during a routine review, she said.
It appears from a preliminary investigation on the Hampton that sailors in Submarine Squadron 11 had skipped the required analysis of the chemical and radiological properties of the submarine's reactor for more than a month, even though a daily check is required.
The Hampton, a Los Angeles Class submarine assigned to Submarine Squadron Eleven, is the most advanced nuclear attack submarine in the world, carrying a torpedo, cruise missile, and mine-laying arsenal, according to information on the Navy's Web site. The submarine is docked in San Diego.
Portland's dismissal as commander is effective immediately. Myrick said Portland will be temporarily assigned to squadron duty and the Hampton will not conduct operations until the Navy can confirm the operational standards have been met. Myrick said at no time was the submarine conducting unsafe operations.
``He has not been charged with any offense nor has he received non-judicial punishment,'' Myrick said.
There was no phone listing for Portland in San Diego, and the Navy did not immediately respond to an AP interview request.
(Excerpt) Read more at guardian.co.uk ...
The navy sure has had a run of poor officers the last couple of years, what is this about the fifth that has been relived of his command.
We had something mundane - a watch my div stood had to take soundings (water level checks) of various compartments. One night in port I found about a 10' shift over prior log entries. Turned out we had been through a stretch of bad weather, it had rained for many days and this was was done out on the bow so they just carried over prior entries. The guys who had the prior watches were sweating bullets but it blew over. This is different. An anphib is not going to have serious problems because of a few feet of water in the chain locker in port. On a nuke sub the crew ends up with empty coin purses etc. if the rads get out to play. Not good.
No need to rub salt into his wounds. His career is over. The navy wouldn't let him command a rowboat now.
The above is the description of the Virginia class weapon system. I believe that we have "limited" our abilities to build boomers with treaties. I believe that the Los Angeles class may in fact be the biggest and baddest. But I'm definately not an expert.
The Nuclear Navy has the most unforgiving standards in safety and technical proficiency. I’m only surprised that they’re not bringing him up on UCMJ charges.
You can’t really bring the CO up on NJP/UCMJ charges - unless he knew about or covered up the false logs. Not knowing about falsified logs isn’t a court martial offense, after all, the logs were being faked to hide an offense. The ELT’s were the ones guilty.
The LPO, MPA, Eng should have seen it the first (or second) day: if this were reactor water samples (and the writer is either not able to tell us, or doesn’t know enough to tell the difference between SG water CL samples and primary water samples!) the EOOW and EWS will have noted the lineup changes.
HIS job was to make sure it didn’t happen - rather, to make sure that the logs AND (more importantly!) the daily reactor water samples WERE TAKEN and taken safely and the reactor was operated safely.
It appears from a preliminary investigation on the Hampton that sailors in Submarine Squadron 11 had skipped the required analysis of the chemical and radiological properties of the submarine's reactor for more than a month, even though a daily check is required.
It is always the radcon! People who aren't Navy Nukes probably won't understand this but radcon (radiological controls) is one of the most tedious jobs on a nuclear reactor. Probably half of the Navy Nukes who have been to Captain's Mast (UCMJ Art 15) have been there due to falsified radcon logs. I remember 2 in my last two years at my old command--and one would have made Chief but was busted down to E-5 (and would have been denuked if his record wasn't spotless)!
The problem with reactor chemistry and radcon logs is that even though the job is tedious, if you start to make something up and aren't extremely smart about it, the logs will always give you away. Always. On my old boat those logs were reviewed over and over again before giving them to the CO to review just to make sure that some dumb ELT (Engineering Laboratory Technician--Navy Nuke who does Radcon work) didn't screw something up. Reading those logs and looking for discrepancies was about as much fun as watching paint dry, but without the fun fumes to distract you.
And if the CO doesn't catch errors in radcon logs, the Squadron will always put their nose in and check things out and the ORSE board, Naval Reactors Inspectors, and the Shipyards. Those logs that a tired ELT scribbles down at O'dark thirty will probably be reviewed by 10-15 people eventually. Someone will eventually find the error. I don't think even reactor operation logs are reviewed as religiously.
We didn't have radcon problems on my boat.
8<)
Programs have been made to overcome that. Input what you want the numbers to be and it will output the raw data you need.
The Navy has tremendous personnel. The buck stops somewhere. The USAF used to turn & burn Wing Commanders at a fair clip - lose an aircraft(non-combat), let alone a couple, you’re toast. Career not necessarily over, but more often than not.
Navy tolerance is zero. Touch bottom for a second, it’s to the Navy Annex and out.
What's that old joke? Florida trailer parks are littered with retired navy Captains that found a new uncharted reef?
I used to repair Squadron 11 boats on USS McKee. USS Hampton was commissioned about 2 weeks before I left active duty.
I’ve seen a few unplanned and quiet change of command ceremonies for the boats. As dangerous as sub duty is to all aboard, the captain’s career is probably most at risk.
When I first read this story, I was amazed that it sounded like the entire ELT (RC Div ?) group was in on this. I could see one guy trying to radio the logs, but the whole division? Was the Div-O relieved as well?
RADCON, special weapons, CMS, SUBSAFE, nav charts.
If you want to seriously reduce the shelf-life of your Navy career, go right ahead grape off the paperwork. If there was any justice in the world, the offenders would find themselves standing midwatches topside in Groton.
If they caught something like this on an ORSE then they probably lost their "reactor keys" underway and had to return to port on the diesel. Ouch! In any case, I would not want to be in the Engineering Department of that ship right now. Their lives are going to be hell for the next year or two. I don't feel that bad for them though. Every EOOW, EWS, EDO, and EDPO had to know what was going on or at least suspected that the logs weren't being maintained. I don't think they were necessarily complicit, but I do think they probably had the attitude that they didn't want to know.
Let's just say that Naval Reactors isn't going to be happy that there is now an international news story that says that the crew "failed to do daily safety checks on its nuclear reactor for a month and falsified records to cover up the omission." Nope, Adm. Donald will probably not be amused.
Navigation by Braille is also not considered career-enhancing.
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