Posted on 01/28/2005 10:32:23 AM PST by presidio9
The Navy has published the first photographs of the damaged nuclear attack submarine USS San Francisco now in dry dock in Guam.
The submarine's front end was severely damaged when the submarine struck an undersea mountain 350 miles south of Guam on January 8.
Machinist Mate 2nd Class Joseph Allen Ashley, 24, of Akron, Ohio, died of injuries suffered in the accident, which occurred when the submarine was en route to Brisbane, Australia.
A Navy official said the submarine went into dry dock on January 26.
Divers cut off the sonar dome from the front end beforehand because it was "hanging," the official said, but otherwise the damage visible on the submarine occurred in the accident.
The pictures show extensive damage to the outer hull of the vessel, whose front end was virtually destroyed.
The inner hull was not penetrated.
The pictures also show a blue tarp covering classified equipment at the sub's front end.
The Navy official said it now appears the undersea mountain was not on the navigation charts the crew was using.
The incident remains under investigation, and the commander has been reassigned pending the outcome of that inquiry.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
That's not the pressure hull.
I just don't get it - mountains don't just pop up out of nowhere. Seems like some heads should roll for the failures that led to the chart being innacurate.
I guess it's natural to want to blame someone, but those of us that have been out there know that "stuff happens" and all we can do is be ready to react when it does.
I know it's not the pressure hull.
It's an observation, point of discussion, etc.
Maybe the plating bulged in that area and the pressure hull didn't. However, in reading the article, it doesn't say the pressure hull wasn't damaged, it says it wasn't penetrated.
Big difference.
Yeah, but in the satellite age, where we can map every square centimeter of the ocean floor from a hundred miles up, it seems like missing a mountain when constructing the navigation charts is quite a bit bigger pile of "stuff" than usual.
It makes you wonder, how many other enormous mountains are not shown on Navy navigation charts?
Yes, I added that for effect. The only thing I left out was, "...and in the rain." Good catch.
Former STG...
That's because they won't know for sure if the pressure hull is damaged until they clear away interference and radiograph the thing.
Either way, it's amazing the sub didn't go down.
Not so.
I don't think we can map the ocean floor to anywhere near the resolution needed for navigation charts.
I think there are dozens, if not hundreds of undersea "features" that have yet found.
It makes me smile to think of the outrage expressed at missing data in navigation charts, when cartographers can't even get street maps right.
Likewise! :-)
It's almost as egregious as those who think "if we only spend a little more money, we'll be able to prevent tsunamis from wiping out island villages."
http://ibis.grdl.noaa.gov/cgi-bin/bathy/bathD.pl
The following is an interactive version of the Smith & Sandwell (1997) global ocean bathymetry map, the most complete, high-resolution image of sea floor topography currently available. The map was constructed by blending depth soundings collected from ships with detailed gravity anomaly information obtained from the Geosat and ERS-1 satellite altimetry missions. This combination of data yields a globally uniform level of resolution ideal for displaying major tectonic features, such as mid-ocean spreading ridges or fracture zones. To examine a particular area in more detail, select a zoom factor, then click on a point in the map. The next image will be zoomed and centered on that point. To generate an annotated GMT/PostScript version of a particular map, or an Ascii file (longitude, latitude, elevation/depth in meters), click on the appropriate button below the map, then click on "Here" to download.
Very impressive. Would be neat to see incorporated into a usable nautical chart.
Neat, but not even close to the level of detail required for nautical charts.
Enemy submarines are not on the navigational charts either. If our submarines can only identify things on charts we are throwing a whole lot of money away nowadays. Besides, I'm not buying the statement that a mountain wasn't on their navigational chart.
I guess that means TPI is in effect.
Amazing pics. Thanks.
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