Posted on 09/21/2005 4:28:16 PM PDT by SmithL
GROTON, Conn. -- The commander of a U.S. nuclear submarine that collided with a Turkish cargo ship in the Persian Gulf this month was relieved of command Wednesday and two other officers were reassigned, the Navy said.
Cmdr. Steven M. Oxholm put the submarine in a hazardous situation, a Navy investigation found, and he received a letter of reprimand. The Groton-based USS Philadelphia was traveling on the surface of the Gulf on Sept. 5 when it slammed into the bulk carrier M/V Yaso Aysen.
Citing a lack of confidence in Oxholm's ability to command, Rear Adm. John Bird relieved him of his duties. Oxholm will return to Submarine Group Two, based in Groton, for a new assignment.
Nobody was injured and the damage was minor.
(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...
PING for another career shot.
Hell, It will ruin his whole career
It seems that everytime the Navy crashes a boat or sub, they end up taking it out on the commander.
"...A collision at sea can ruin your whole day...."
Not to mention a Naval Officer's career!
Tack on 25 centuries and "your career".
And your point is?
Right or wrong, isn't this pretty much SOP?
That's the Navy Way.
They ran into a bulk carrier while running on the surface. WHO was on watch??? Anyone?
That thing has a radar return the size of a Walmart, and the sonar signature of a Mack truck. I bet they sack more than just the CO. XO and COB ought to be next.
Thank you for your service Commander.
You got that right.
Error is not an option in the subfleet
Keelhauling and the lash aren't an option, firing is the next best thing.
Last I knew, simply putting your destroyer on a nice soft sandbar at low tide was enough to get you relieved of command.
The Navy has very high standards.
That being said, whenever I hear about something this blatantly obvious, I wonder what "the rest of the story" is. Was there some covert reason to want to stop that particular ship without resorting to torpedoing it?
Call me paranoid, but I find it difficult to believe that any crew in the US Navy could screw up this badly.
US Navy ships run on the surface under EMCON (Emissions Contorl) which means all radars and active sonars are turned off to prevent their electronic signatures from being detected and recorded by an enemy. I don't know what passive sonar capability is for a SURFACED submarine. With Iran on the other side of the Gulf, you'd better believe that sub was running under EMCON. At most, there might have been some small navigation radars running.
A submarine running surfaced would probably (I'm an ex-carrier sailor, so I don't know for sure)place some kind of running/anti-collision lighting on (if this happened at night), but with such a low profile it's possible for lookouts (if any) on the Turkish ship to miss them).
I'm admitting to having not read the entire article, but, the blurb above did not mention if the sub was running surfaced at night (which would help mitigate the circumstances; it's possible that Turkish ship was also running without lights).
In any case, since the skipper is the man in charge, his is the head that rolls, regardless of who had the conn at the time of the accident.
Shoulda been aboard in 1986 when the Enterprise grounded on a sand bar in Tokyo Bay, in daylight, with Japanese harbor pilots alongside. Took us two days to get off that sucker with the help of tugs.
If a boat is lighted then it is lighted with legally required running lights, stern light and Sub ID light (orange strobe 3 sec period).
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