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I have a little bit more experiance than the average fellow about this crash. I was onboard the USS Atlanta when it hit the bottom of the strait of Gilbraltar April 26 1986. Chernobyl blew up on the same day so that is why you have never heard of it. It smashed up the Sonar dome but after pulling into the British port of Gilbraltor it was decided that we could make it back to Norfolk, which we did, under a new captain.

The front of the sub is mostly a ballast tank which is why they survived and why this sub will be able to return to service. As for the shock it got from the collision messing things up further aft, this is a warship and it is designed for such shocks. I imagine they might have to straighted out a few things but I'd be surprised if this sub is not returned to service soon. If Clinton was still president they'd scrap it, just like what happened to my former, fully functional, sub.

"I have a little bit more experiance than the average fellow about this crash. I was onboard the USS Atlanta when it hit the bottom of the strait of Gilbraltar April 26 1986."

Now that is interesting. Do you have a link to a good website discussion of that event? Were you based at Roto? Other than being relieved of command, what else happened to the Captain?

I've always wondered what the topography of the Strait of Gibraltar was like. I had imagined that with the high currents and massive tidal flows squeezing through that bottle neck, that it has to be darn deep and the bottom must be scoured clean; no mud.

--Boot Hill