Officials: U.S. submarine hit undersea mountain

CNN ^ | January 10, 2005 | Mike Mount

[holymoly]

FYI:  USS San Francisco (SSN 711)

[wolfpat]

The commander of the USS San Francisco, Kevin Mooney, has not been relieved of duty while the investigation of the accident continues.

He will be.

[boxerblues]

Luckily there were not more injuries after hitting head on

[nuconvert]

How does this happen?

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Gee, as expensive as that submarine has to be, you'd think they would have equipped it with sonar. </sarcasm>

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

The investigation will look at the sub's speed, its location and whether the undersea formation was on navigational charts, officials said.

. . . and if that formation was not on the charts, who is responsible for that??

Seems like existing radar technology allows the mapping of the sea floor from space.

[livius]

We had a long thread on this the other day. In that part of the world, undersea mountains literally rise up overnight because of volcanic activity. So the mountain might not have been on a chart.

Even so it does seem a little odd that none of the navigation systems (or their monitors) caught this, but then, I don't know a single thing about navigation systems on a sub, so perhaps there's an explanation for it.

[CFC__VRWC]

A 30+ knot head-on collision - it's a miracle, and a testament to the seamanship of the crew, that the boat waasn't lost with all hands. The CO will soon be looking for other work at best, and may be facing a court martial at worst.

[Deaf Smith]

The mountain did a Crazy Ivan.

[IllumiNaughtyByNature]

Dirty windshield?

/humor

[F.J. Mitchell]

Was the mountain there prior to the recene tsunami ?

[nuconvert]

"seem a little odd that none of the navigation systems (or their monitors) caught this,"

Well, I'm wondering if everyone was on a coffee break or asleep?

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

you'd think they would have equipped it with sonar. </sarcasm>

. . . but then, since the whole idea of a submarine is to evade detection, and since active sonar announces your location, maybe there could be a reason not to operate it.

[rhombus]

U.S. submarine hit undersea mountain

Darn that Mapquest.

[dwilli]

and if that formation was not on the charts, who is responsible for that??

Depends if he was off course and outside recognised sea lanes. Subs just dont run at 40 knots in unchartered waters.

[BabsC]

'The mountain did a Crazy Ivan.'

Can a 9.0 or 9.1 earthquake cause a mountain to do this?

[7.62 x 51mm]

"...on a chart..."

Aren't they doing real-time mapping and navigation, these days, l?

[A2J]

Okay, I can't pass this up.

Here's a submarine (a long, phallic-shaped structure), full of seamen, named the "San Francisco" and commanded by a Mooney, rams a mountain "head on."

What's the odds?

[holymoly]

. . . but then, since the whole idea of a submarine is to evade detection, and since active sonar announces your location, maybe there could be a reason not to operate it.

I wonder how deep he was? I also wonder how deep you have to be to run at 30 knots without cavitation?

[Billthedrill]

I don't think it was a problem with a dirty windshield. The Navy pays a fortune on windshield wipers. It might be that the squirter thingy ran out of fluid. Happens a lot this time of year.