Right, but the "sandbar" story makes for good cover if we just rammed a red sub into Davy Jones' Locker.
I'm a submarine veteran.
There aren't enough facts in the article to make a hypothesis. Have to wait for more to come out.
Were they submerged when they ran aground? Or on the surface? 350 miles from Guam tells me they were most likely submerged, but there is no way of knowing. A submerged collision with the sea floor is a serious thing, especially if they were going at high speed.
I dont think this is the result of hitting a sand bar. Too many injuries and too much damage.
Yes. This article is all too brief, and has mighty little content even for its brevity. We will just have to exercise patience and wait for more on this.
"A submerged collision with the sea floor is a serious thing, especially if they were going at high speed."
Yea, I can imagine a lot of soiled underwear as a result.
Two things I decided as a service member: I wouldn't jump out of a perfectly good airplane, and I wouldn't get into a perfectly good sub.
And bless you for your service.
Right, but the "sandbar" story makes for good cover if we just rammed a red sub into Davy Jones' Locker.
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
Could it be a new sandbar/obstacle created by the earthquake that causes the tsunami ?
just my $0.02...
If they hit another submarine...say Chinese...would they announce the fact? No, they would make up a story like "running aground".