Sailor Dies In US Nuke Sub Mishap

[David]

AP


A sailor injured aboard a nuclear submarine that ran aground about 350 miles south of Guam died Sunday, the Navy said. Twenty-three other crew members were being treated for injuries.

The USS San Francisco was headed back to its home port in Guam after sustaining severe damage on Saturday. The incident was under investigation, said Jon Yoshishige, a spokesman for the Pacific Fleet based at Pearl Harbor.

The name of the sailor who died was being withheld pending a mandatory 24-hour waiting period, the Navy said. The sailor's next of kin had been notified.

There were no reports of damage to the 360-foot submarine's reactor plant, which was operating normally, the Navy said. Officials said there was no information on what the submarine struck.

The extent of the damage would not be known until the vessel arrived at Guam on Monday, Yoshishige said.

Navy and Coast Guard aircraft from Guam were sent to monitor the submarine and assist if needed, the Navy said. The sub has a crew of 137, officials said.

Located west of the international date line, Guam is a U.S. territory about 3,700 miles southwest of Hawaii.





The USS San Francisco is escorted by two harbor tugs in June 2004 as it returns to home port in Guam after five-months at sea.

[SparrowHawk62]

R.I.P. Shipmate.

[Boats]

Amen to that will have to wait for details as to the reasoning and cause of?

[Boats]

Follow Up:

I just got word from a serviceman regarding the boat and crewman he asks that we refer to the following:

The boat has arrived back to port. I have talked to several members of the crew, they are doing well under the circumstances. They had the memorial for the Sailor Thursday Guam Time. If you go to the NY Times website, they have a interesting article on the submarine.

All I could get right now.

[Robert Ryan]

fair winds and following seas sailor. On the news it was reported that out dated charts played a roll in the submarines grounding.

[reeb]

Update:


January 17, 2005

Old charts may have led to sub?s grounding

By Siobhan McDonough
Associated Press


Outdated charts may have been partially at fault for the undersea grounding of a U.S. nuclear submarine last weekend, according to a U.S. agency that analyzes spy satellite imagery and produces maps and charts for the Defense Department.
Officials at the Bethesda, Md.-based National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency said Saturday the main chart likely used by the submarine San Francisco didn?t reveal any obstacle anywhere near where the boat struck on the floor of the Pacific Ocean during underwater operations last Saturday about 350 miles south of Guam.

The closest notation on the map indicates discolored water about three miles from the accident site. The discolored water was reported by the Japanese most likely in the 1960s or even earlier, according to David Burpee, the agency?s spokesman.

The Defense Mapping Agency created the chart in 1989, and it was never revised. That agency later became a part of the Defense Department?s National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, responsible for maps and sea charts.

Burpee said a satellite photograph taken 10 years later could be read in hindsight to show an undersea mountain not on the chart, but that was not clear at the time and, in any case, the photo was just one among thousands of shots of ocean expanses that have not been fully charted using all the latest methods.

?The charts used today may not reflect the reality of what?s actually on the ocean floor,? said Burpee, adding that the charts used today were charted with earlier technology and may not be up-to-date.

?You think (the charts) are right until somebody tells you they?re not,? he said, adding that ships use sonar to pick up ocean forms and pass that information on to the agency.

The Navy has said an initial investigation into the accident found that the submarine struck a large rock, land or other natural feature and nothing else.

One sailor was killed and at least 23 suffered injuries including broken bones, cuts and bruises. The submarine has a crew of 137.

Burpee said the images taken of the area by a Lansat satellite in 1999 could be viewed upon close examination in the wake of the accident to indicate a submerged structure, such as a reef or a ridge, but also could have been read as showing variations in water color caused by dense growth of plankton or something dumped from a passing ship, such as oil.

?The chart is an imprecise mapping of the bottom to begin with,? he said. ?There hasn?t been a formal hydrographic sweep through that area of the ocean?s bottom.?

Burpee said there are currently 150 ships in the world capable of doing that kind of thorough deep water work and it would take all of them 30 years to map the world?s deep water.

?It?s not like there was one little area that got away from us, that escaped detection,? he said. ?This is part of a massive amount of sea that has not been mapped or charted in detail.?

The emphasis in charting has been on the Northern Hemisphere because that?s where the majority of commerce is, he said.

San Francisco?s nuclear reactor was undamaged, and the submarine made its way back to its home port in Guam under its own power. Its outer hull was damaged, but its inner hull remained intact.

The submarine had been headed to Australia for a port visit.


enough...........

[Robert Ryan]

The navy Times has an Article about the sailor. There seems to be a lot good things said about him by his Div Off, LCPO. and LPO, a good sailor will surely be missed by the Navy and the Crew of the San Francisco, fair and winds and following seas shipmate.

[reeb]

More about this:

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/01/27/sub...nn_topstories.

enough.....

[SparrowHawk62]

Posted in the General Forum by David:

Deadly Submarine Crash Aftermath
AP

An undersea disaster was narrowly averted this year, hundreds of feet below sea. And before an investigation is complete, the Pentagon is already placing blame.

On Jan. 8, a U.S. Navy attack submarine was cruising at top speed when it rammed into an undersea mountain. Dozens were injured on board, but the submarine managed to limp back to port.

One sailor was killed and 60 more injured when the nuclear-powered sub smashed head on into the mountain last month when making a high-speed run at more than 35 miles per hour. The San Francisco was at a depth of more than 500 feet and ? judging from the damage it suffered ? lucky to have made it to the surface.

Although the accident investigation is not yet complete, the Navy has now decided to charge commander Kevin Mooney, the captain of the San Francisco, with failing to heed warnings he was operating in dangerous waters.

The Navy does not intend to court martial Mooney, but he has been relieved of his command and is likely to receive a career-ended letter of reprimand.

One soldier was killed and 23 others were injured in the crash, which occurred 350 miles south of Guam. The submarine reached its homeport of Apra Harbor Jan. 10 under its own power, a Navy spokesman said.

Navy medical personnel from Guam were brought aboard the submarine to treat the injuries, which included broken bones, lacerations, bruises and a back injury, the Navy said.

The sailor killed was identified as Machinist Mate 2nd Class Joseph Allen Ashley, 24, of Akron, Ohio. He died Jan. 9 of his injuries, said Jon Yoshishige, spokesman for the U.S. Pacific Fleet in Honolulu.

Just a few months ago, Ashley re-enlisted for five more years, his mother said. Friends and neighbors placed small American flags on the lawn of his family's home.

Normally, a sub relies on its sonar to detect underwater obstacles, sending out pulses of sound and listening for an echo. But the sonar is useless at high speeds because all other sounds are drowned out by the noise the sub makes CBS' Martin reports.

The undersea terrain of the open Pacific is known to be poorly mapped, and the mountain the San Francisco hit was no shown on the chart the sub was using to navigate. But other charts available to the captain warned that satellites had detected a discolored area of water, which could indicate an obstacle beneath the surface.

In addition, before the San Francisco began its high speed run, the crew took depth soundings, which revealed the water was shallower than shown on the chart ? another warning sign the captain apparently failed to heed. It was a failure than nearly sent the sub, and all 137 aboard, to the bottom.

In this image released by the Navy, the Los Angeles-class fast-attack submarine USS San Francisco sits in a dry dock in Santa Rita, Guam Thursday, Jan. 27, 2005.