Posted on 01/08/2005 3:19:47 AM PST by Jet Jaguar
HONOLULU (AP) - A nuclear submarine ran aground about 350 miles south of Guam, injuring several sailors, one of them critically, the Navy said.
There were no reports of damage to the USS San Francisco's reactor plant, which was operating normally, the Navy said.
Jon Yoshishige, a spokesman for the U.S. Pacific Fleet based at Pearl Harbor, said the Friday afternoon incident is under investigation and the 360-foot submarine was headed back to its home port in Guam.
Details on the sailors' injuries were not immediately available. The sub has a crew of 137, officials said.
Military and Coast Guard aircraft from Guam were en route to monitor the submarine and assist if needed, the Navy said.
Guam is a U.S. territory about 3,700 miles southwest of Hawaii.
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On the Net:
U.S. Pacific Fleet: http://www.cpf.navy.mil
AP-ES-01-08-05 0343EST
RE: your tagline.
I saw a New York license plate: NO2HIL
Standard explanation for anything too complex or too classified to discuss:
Works good.
Last a long time.
Drains to the bilge.
Right on. As a naval veteran myself, I agree we cannot judge this captain without knowing more facts.
One can think of some scenarios where the Captain could be exonerated. But it is always tough. Being a Captain of a naval vessel is a tough job. They all know too, that they can swing for anything.
My favorite running aground story is that of the USS Missouri in 1950.
Grounding of USS Missouri in 1950
On 17 Jan 1950 Missouri ran aground on Thimble Shoals while departing Norfolk. Captain William Brown had recently taken command of the ship. Her was instructed to make a calibration run on the acoustic range as the ship left port. The CO failed to consult the charts before heading out, and he mistook a line of spar bouys along the shoals for the range markers along the acoustic range. The XO and navigator attempted to warn him that he was headed into shoal water, but he refused to listen. Missouri went into the mud at 12.5 knots; she coasted half a mile across the mudflats after the chief engineer shut down the engines to prevent their destruction.
Salvage efforts began immediately. Tugs, salvage ships and barges were sent out from Norfolk, an Army dredge was hurriedly summoned from the upper reaches of the Chesapeake, civilan dredges were contracted, and the pontoons built to salvage the submarine Squalus in the 1930's were towed down from Boston. All ammunuition, fuels, stores and other removable weights were lightered off, a channel was dredged around and behind the ship, and extensive networks of kedge anchors and beach gear were set up. The incomplete battleship Kentucky was floated out of her building dock on 20 January to clear that facility for Missouri's repairs.
Missouri was pulled off on 1 Feb 1950 by a force of 23 vessels. There were 14 fleet and salvage tugs: 5 pulling alongside, 6 pulling directly astern and 3 swinging the bow to break her loose from the muck. 2 salvage ships were moored astern, each connected to the ship by two sets of beach gear and moored to five anchors; they pulled up on their anchor lines and hauled in on the beach gear in addition to pulling like tugs. There were 7 yard tugs assigned to keep the larger vessels in position. In addition there were 9 kedge anchors set out around the battleship, being hauled on by the battleship's winches.
Damage was relatively light, consisting mainly of some dented and torn plates; there was no permanent damage. Repairs were completed in a 5 day drydocking at Norfolk. It is often stated that Missouri's "keel was bent" and that this damage was an impairment later in the ship's career; this is not correct. Although the ship's keel was somewhat bent and distorted in places, all significant damage was repaired during the drydocking. Any remaining distortion is of a cosmetic nature only.
Other reports often say Missouri's #2 barbette was permanently "cracked"; this is also untrue. In reality a crack was found in the ship's #3 barbette at second deck level; it is not clear if this damage was even a result of the grounding, but it was discovered during post-grounding inspections. The crack was welded closed during post-grounding repairs and has not been a problem since then.
Missouri was not limited to 15 knots as has been stated in the past; she made 30+ knots during her final reactivation.
See the following link for technical info...
http://www.ussmissouri.org/coll_AgroundiHistory.htm
You forgot. "requires frequent paint/preservation"
Wikki rocks ! it seems that this Sub is just waiting decommission. Read about the Virginia class, much more techie than the aging Angeles class subs. The whole battlefield command and enchilada into these puppies. And at over 1 billion a pop, how many you think we need?
A question asked me long ago:
Lady: "How does a nuclear reactor work?"
Me: "Witchcraft"
sorry!
;-)
Bear with me on this one.
We had a "Forward Puke" qualified EOOW but when he had to stand his rotation back aft he would bring all his non-nuclear material back aft and basically either be a pain in the arse or totally absorbed into his studies.
I was on the Elec. Panel and "received" a call from the DG room (actually from the Chem Sampling station - you know where the sampling pump goes ta ta ta ta ta - at least on the old boats).
I picked up the phone but let the key go so it would come over the speaker. It went something like this.
[Note: we were in transit, >400 feet >20 knots]
Maneuvering, DG Room.
Maneuvering aye.
Maneuvering, DG Room. DG on the warmed up, on the governor and ready to be loaded (ta ta ta ta from phone placed next to sampling pump almost load enough to drown out the speaker)
Maneuvering aye. [Hang up]
At this point, EOOW looks puzzled and call control on the dial phone. He is in the midst of asking control if they want to load the diesel when, over the 1MC the CO screams, EOOW to control, ASAP.Not another word was said of the incident and we never had a problem with that EOOW again.
Are you referring to Inertial Navigation Systems? Just want to clarify before I respond to make sure we're talking about the same thing.
In all honesty--
As many as we can get out hands on!
Joking aside, I'm not sure how many they plan to get.
OTOH, we were drifting along at a few knots for hours with no change when suddenly the annunciator went crazy, the 2MC went "Cavitate, Cavitate" and boy did I make that mother cavitate. Got an attaboy on that one. Something to do with a Russian vessel and a sudden coarse change.
Better answer: PFM
Yes. Sinners, yes. SINS, no.
Sung to the tune of "She'll be coming round the mountian when she comes ..."
"Shutdown rover, 2JV ... "
Followed by, of course,
"Do Da. Do da."
Was that a 7MC order or three buzzes on the EOT?
Fact checking is optional as long as you begin with "Now, This Is a No-Sh!tter!"
;)
It shows the basic loops and that is relevant to those that have no idea of what a nuclear propulsion system looks like. Further discussion can and has clarified where the suction and discharge valves are. As for the ECCS, it is easy to say that it is not part of the MSW system and is a system of itself.
Alternatively, "Now, this ain't no schitt!"
The part I doubt is the part about having "a bent hull frame" for the rest of its life.
Submarines are able to withstand pressures by maintaining round and symmetry of the pressure hull.
I have to believe that if something was "bent" on the "hull frame" then it would have been repaired or scrapped.
The EOT was cycled and the "Cavitate" was over the 7MC.
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