Posted on 01/29/2007 10:45:57 AM PST by Excuse_My_Bellicosity
BAHRAIN (NNS) -- Rear Adm. Douglas J. McAneny, commander, Combined Task Force 54, completed administrative personnel actions involving select members of the USS Newport News (SSN 750) crew, Jan. 29, including relieving Cmdr. Matthew A. Weingart of command due to a lack of confidence in his ability to command. Capt. Norman B. Moore has temporarily assumed command of the Los Angeles-class fast attack submarine.
Following a collision between Newport News and M/V Mogamigawa, Jan. 8, the submarine pulled into port in Bahrain where it is currently undergoing a damage inspection and assessment, to be followed by temporary repairs. The submarine will return to the United States once temporary repairs are complete at which time permanent repairs will be conducted. Legal and safety mishap investigations are in progress.
No U.S. Sailors or merchant crew members were injured in the collision.
For related news, visit the Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Central Command/Commander, U.S. 5th Fleet Navy NewsStand page at www.news.navy.mil/local/cusnc/.
That's got to hurt. But it was inevitable: collision or grounding your ship is a one way ticket to loss of command and end of your career.
Lot of that going around lately.
That is a BIT#H of a transit! The current is strong and the lanes are quite narrow. Having taken a CVN through there twice, it is worse than the transit into Pearl!
Sub skippers and XO's are dropping like flies here of late.
In what transit did the collision occur?
As was expected, no surprises.
So here's what a submarine has to deal with for this transit. The strait is about 40 miles wide and maybe 100-120 feet deep, not a whole lot of maneuvering room for three dimensional travel. In that 100 or so feet of water, you have a tanker with a draft (distance from waterline to keel) of anywhere from 40 feet to who knows how much depending on how much he's carrying, sinve he was going in, I'd assume he was near empty. Next, you have the sub ranging about 30 feet from deck to keel + about that much more to the top of sail and there is no way to avoid overlap.
Couple that with the fact that your driving through a canyon so the acoustics are all hosed up and sounds are bouncing off everywhere and throw in numerous vessels since its the most heavily traveled chokepoint in the world, etc. You get the idea. Just because its done successfully so many times before doesn't make it easy or routine.
An unwritten but accepted practice when going through chokepoints like this is to find the biggest ship in the area and stay close to him figuring that everything else will be giving him plenty of room. I suppose thats what this CO had in mind.
Is this the one where the sub got sucked up by the frieghters displacement? Or a different incident?
Strait of Hormuz, the most heavily trafficked chokepoint in the world.
How long was he skipper of SSN 750?
Pic of the recently departed..
http://www.ussnewportnews.org/SSN750/weingart.htm
At least he has his twenty in.....
Read a little closer...he RELIEVED on March 2005. A lot different from WAS relieved.
Retired QMC here begs to differ. SOH is a long transit with heavy traffic, but there's plenty of water for surface ships (subs are a different matter). I prefer that over the greater risk grounding offered at the Pearl entrance.
Something wrong here.... web bio says he was relieved in March 2005, yet the incident referenced in the release took place January 8. Huh?
Actually, he took over in March of 2005. IIRC he probably would have been relieved either late this year or early next (anything over 36 months as a CO is HIGHLY unusual).
Damn, this sucks. Dude was on my first boat when I was a lowly non-qual as well. He really was one of the good guys. That sucks.
You have it backwards. He relieved the former CO and assumed command in 2005.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.