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
The incident was very touch and go. They were at depth and near flank speed.The the petty officer at the helm immeadiatly did an emergency blow,(with a broken arm)to surface the ship.Zack's compartment was filling with water, and while looking for the source was sprayed in the face when he became aware it was not sea water. There were no hull breaches and no high pressure steam leaks.
Two of the ships three bow ballast tanks were compromised severly and a air pump rated only for intermittent service was employed for more than 30 hours to provide bouyancy in those tanks.There were two risky option to keep the boat afloat if there were a pump failure, thank goodness the pump held.
The hull of the ship actually accordioned. I would like to thank the welders who put her together.
Zack helped stop the bleeding from a severe head wound of one of his comrades(he was unconcious but is ok).He also was one of the first a assist the fallen sailor.
Thanks to all for your thoughts ,concerns,and especially your prayers.
Thanks. And thank him.
Amazing. I stood a lot of COW and can just imagine doing a header into the common alarm panel. It's a good thing planesmen are still required to be belted in. I can't imagine thowing the chicken switches with one arm. Especially since you have to cycle them back shut.
688's lack the HP blow system that 637s have. We used to talk about how we'd line-up the ventiltion system to blow MBTs with the diesel, but we had no idea if it would actually work.
Please add me to your ping list.
So the choice is an LP blow or EMBT blow? I never knew that. Strange that is a system that would be removed from the mix, although I guess I could count on one hand the number of times any 637-class I was on surfaced using a HP blow.
Thank you to your son and your family for his service to our country.
SS:
I'd always hear the stories of the brazings being bad---and how when the BOI asked for the radiographs of another boat getting ready for trials (TINOSA?) they had suddenly "gone missing" New radiographs showed that many (most?) of the brazings were pretty p**s poor.
I can only imagine the hydrant THRESHER faced when MSW piping let go at test depth.
Very close: Aux seawater piping, 4" diameter, was what busted. (Which is bad enough), since the Thresher was near test depth doing testing after the overhaul.)
They probably could have recovered:
But the EMBT/HP Blow air piping to the MBT's "froze" due to the air cooling as it expanded through the comparitively small valves and long piping from the air tanks to the valves -> So they lost ability to get more air in the ballast tanks.
There were lots of questions about the air valves themselves, best I know, these weren't really resolved one or the other: Those on the Scorpion were also suspect, but can't proven to be bad.
And the reactor was scrammed, without procedures or training to recover steam or propulsion, and the original NavSea08 procedures called for the MS to be shut, and so there was no propulsion to drive her to the surface. They came every close to the surface ("coasting") but then fell back down, and the hull was crushed.
Yes - We drove the boat up on the ME's, kept it above water with the boat's angle riding the vents until the LP blower got the air out of the tanks, then "opened the hatch" and sent the OOD and lookouts topside.
Prayers to you!
I had heard that a reactor coolant hull valve had carried away but I guess it amounts to the same result.....flooding a whole compartment almost instantly at test depth. There were so many rumors but I spoke with someone who had supposedly read the actual report.
My understanding was that there were strainers in the EMBT/HP Blow air piping that was thought have been the area where the freezing took place.
I hope you do not mind the PM'ing---I see stuff that I'd have a hard time posting in a open forum. Not really comfortable about even PM'ing either.
BTW, My dad is letting the power company put an emergency Diesel Generator set at his ranch (big EMD's) They generators are rated for some 8 Mw. He already has a few wind turbines up (total 4.5Mw)
He's becoming a power Baron! ;-)
That's a Broach.
I really need to get back in the GD rack, I really do.
(FAS rolls off in his W/C, disgusted with himself)
"Give me heaven, or a 637" was the operative phrase when I was in. I qualified on Scamp, a Skipjack class, so those hotrods will always have a special place in my heart. But for crew comfort, the 637s had all over any other fast attack class IMHO. I'm not counting boomers because that's an entirely different experience; I have nothing against the boomer guys though - I are one, with 4 patrols on the 629B.
Add me to your list, please.
Hmmm! You don't suppose that's why topside watches in my day were forbidden to have a clip in their .45 unless under threat of immediate hostile boarding? Can visualize it now: 2 topside guys on adjacent boats, boring mid-watch, ...
I guess traffic is better....no collisions in over a decade?
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