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US Nuclear sub runs aground in Pacific

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Those photos don't match. The first couple photos make it look like she slammed into a mountainside and is totally ripped open, while the later photos show no damage in the same area.

edit -- whoops, different subs. nevermind.
 
Originally posted by: Armitage
Originally posted by: acemcmac
lemme make sure that I understand this.

my powerboat has a fvcking 50$ sonar depth finder which provides the helm with enough information to avoid running aground, yet a ten trillion dollar nuclear submarine can't come up with something similar?
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Your powerboat isn't going to get blown out of the fvcking water for turning on the SONAR equivalent of a siren the way a warship will.
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I am curious if things are really as cloak and dagger as everyone says. I mean every country runs "stealth" missions and I am sure every country know this. All our enemies know we have ships and spy planes flying all over the place. Unless you are blatently showing yourself where you'd force them to take action, does anyone really care? Imagine we got "caught" by North Korea. Would they risk WW3 by destroying the sub? The risk of MAD basically keeps everyone in check.

Of course, everyone is thinking about the China incident where they DID pursue it and were made to look like the bad guys. They learned their lesson.
 
Originally posted by: sygyzy
I am curious if things are really as cloak and dagger as everyone says. I mean every country runs "stealth" missions and I am sure every country know this. All our enemies know we have ships and spy planes flying all over the place. Unless you are blatently showing yourself where you'd force them to take action, does anyone really care? Imagine we got "caught" by North Korea. Would they risk WW3 by destroying the sub? The risk of MAD basically keeps everyone in check.

Of course, everyone is thinking about the China incident where they DID pursue it and were made to look like the bad guys. They learned their lesson.
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Considering that *usually* those subs are able to navigate just fine without revealing their location, it's best to assume the worst and hope for the best....IE navigate blind, so that if NK DOES go crazy and try to blow us up, as many of our subs survive as possible.
 
Originally posted by: sygyzy
I am curious if things are really as cloak and dagger as everyone says. I mean every country runs "stealth" missions and I am sure every country know this. All our enemies know we have ships and spy planes flying all over the place. Unless you are blatently showing yourself where you'd force them to take action, does anyone really care?
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getting detected is one of the worse thing that can happen to a sub captain's career (well except for hitting an undersea mountain/running aground/surfacing under a japanese fishing boat/etc)

it is very serious and remaining undetected is very important
 
1 sailor died. It is a testament to the crew that the sub made it back to Guam, from what I read 3 out of 4 forward ballast tanks were pretty much gone. They had to perform some emergency procedures to keep the boat afloat.
 
Originally posted by: FoBoT
Originally posted by: Phoenix86
Originally posted by: Garion
For those of you interested, the Navy just released pictures of this sub. Pretty beat up! Pics can be seen here.

- G
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WOW, and no one died?!? Very lucky...
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one sailor was killed
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Gah, missed that. 🙁

RIP
rose.gif
 
Stars and Stripes has an article

yeah, i don't know how they even were able to surface with the forward main ballast tank gone like that, they must have emptied every auxilliary tank in the forward part of the boat and with that it must have been a terrible ride back to guam
 
After reading all of Clancy's works, I am betting this wasn't just an "accident". We probably just averted an entire World War!

-MC
 
Update

I wonder what these folks did to warrant discipline. If the rock wasn't on the chart how could anyone be held accountable. There must be something they are withholding.
 
Originally posted by: KK
Update

I wonder what these folks did to warrant discipline. If the rock wasn't on the chart how could anyone be held accountable. There must be something they are withholding.
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I would imagine that one or more were literally asleep at the wheel. Despite no windows the Subs have equipment that allow them to "see" where they are going and not run into the ground or anything else for that matter.


 
Originally posted by: KK
Update

I wonder what these folks did to warrant discipline. If the rock wasn't on the chart how could anyone be held accountable. There must be something they are withholding.
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As I understand it, they were expected to know that the charts in that area were marginal and to take appropriate precautions.
 
Originally posted by: dmcowen674
Originally posted by: KK
Update

I wonder what these folks did to warrant discipline. If the rock wasn't on the chart how could anyone be held accountable. There must be something they are withholding.
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I would imagine that one or more were literally asleep at the wheel. Despite no windows the Subs have equipment that allow them to "see" where they are going and not run into the ground or anything else for that matter.
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no, not really
there is a depth gauge and a thingy that tells you how far you are from the bottom, but there isn't anything to "see" in front of the sub

the theory is that the ocean has very few things a sub can't plow through, under water mountains not being one of them
 
here is the original Navy Times article

http://www.navytimes.com/story.php?f=1-292925-739182.php

it is pretty standard to punish someone for something with NJP (which is what the 6 got) anytime something significant happens, in this case a sailor died , so somebody was going to get in trouble for sure

Davis declined to provide more specific information. However, reliable sources told Navy Times that those punished included the heavily damaged submarine?s executive officer, navigator, assistant navigator and three petty officers. The assistant navigator is a senior chief petty officer who had qualified for that duty. Sources also said that the three more junior sailors reportedly each lost a stripe, with one first class petty officer reduced to second class and two second classes reduced to third.
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The Navy has not yet released any of its investigations into the mishap but given the initial punishments, it appears that much of the blame has been placed on the submarine?s voyage planning process. In Mooney?s case, Greenert concluded, according to a spokesman, that ?several critical navigational and voyage planning procedures were not being implemented aboard San Francisco. By not ensuring these standard procedures were followed, Mooney hazarded his vessel.?
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Once a submarine?s superior command orders a sub to deploy and issues a basic track or operating area, the sub?s navigation team is totally responsible for properly planning the route, according to U.S. Submarine Forces in Norfolk. The actual charts and plan are prepared and approved by, in order, the sub?s assistant navigator, navigator, executive officer and commanding officer, according to the Norfolk command.
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Originally posted by: flxnimprtmscl
someone's getting relieved of command.
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Yeah, sounds like a pretty major F- up.
I mean, I've heard of surface-going oil tankers and cruise ships occasionally running aground, and those are usually due to someone asleep at the wheel. You would think that .. a nuclear submarine would have some sort of cutting-edge radar stuff to prevent that ever from happening.
 
radar is only used when surfaced, you can't use radar submerged
radar also gives away your position, so if a sub surfaces and doesn't want to be detected, they don't use the radar
 
Originally posted by: Amused
Originally posted by: sniperruff
i wonder what submerged operations is a attack nuclear submarine doing in the pacific?

meanwhile i see my tax money getting flushed down the toilet and realized that i don't have medical insurance
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Why is this the governement's problem or responsibility?

MTA is planning another fare hike, and remembered my old high school is still sinking into the ground at E15 street.
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Both funded by LOCAL and STATE taxes (as they should be). You're bitching up the wrong tree.
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No, you mis-read the OP. His tax money. Which, generally, is split up between federal and state and local. If there were less federal taxes, then more of that could be allocated for state and local, and thus more of his tax money would be spent on local services more beneficial to him, rather than paying for the clean-up of nuclear subs run aground in some far-off land. (Remember, the US federal gov't didn't tax citizens directly for many years. It was funded (and arguably intentionally so by the founders of this nation) by customs and excise taxes alone, and by taxing foreigners working here. The federal gov't was never originally intended to interact directly with citizens (save for the federal post office) - only with various state's gov'ts, which themselves then turned around and interacted directly with the citizens of each respective state.)
 
Originally posted by: ScottMac
Chances are the problem was cused by a US$0.50 part purchased from the lowest bidder that failed.
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Oh noes - bad caps again!!!

Edit: From the pics on the CNN article, it looks like the front left (well, most of the front) got pretty-well beat up. The nuclear pile is actually closer to the center/rear of the sub, isn't it? Hopefully this thing wasn't trawling radiation all around the pacific, but I'm thankful (for the remainder of the crew) that they managed to crawl the thing back to port. That's just scary.
 
The reactors are pretty well armoured / shielded. Then there are the automatic protection systems .... it's good, virtually no chance of contamination, at least with an accident such as this.

I work with an old Boomer Chief. He's got a few interesting stories.

FWIW

Scott
 
the reactor compartment is forward of the engine room, the engine room is the aft most part of the pressure hull
 
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