USS San Francisco Leaves Bremerton After Long Stay

Kitsap Sun ^ | 7 Apr 09 | Staff

[null and void]

Yeah.

Shit happens.

[rednesss]

"Because we have the best trained, bravest and most skilled sailors the world has ever known."

That is of course a given, but no sailor can combat 15 atmospheres of water pressure if the hull is breached catastrophically. The picture looks like the boat was ripped open like a tuna fish can. I'm just amazed that it didn't fill with water in about 5 seconds.

[Gatún(CraigIsaMangoTreeLawyer)]

I’m sorry, rednesss; but for me, Wikipedia is full of errors. I never know when they are correct. They could be correct this time, but I just never know when they are.

[GATOR NAVY]

There was a lot to it. The seamount was reported on one chart as an area of “discolored water” (which could mean many things) but was not on the chart they were using.

FWIW, as a surface navigator in the Navy for 24 years, I would have been using the same chart they were. It was a bottom contour chart. For many years these charts were classified because of the detail of their bottom topography and everyone assumed because of that they were the most accurate open ocean charts.

[OA5599]

Subs navigate by charts. The sub's fathometer should match the depth written on the chart by a certain percentage. Outside of that range, the boat should slow down and ascertain whether they are off course or the chart is wrong. Apparently the San Fran just kept going full speed despite the discrepancy because there was so much depth under the keel... which didn't last that long.

At least that's what I read. I actually was on that sub (well before the crash), but I was in the engine room and know little of what they guys in the cone do.

[OA5599]

Don’t they have forward looking radar?

Radar doesn't work underwater. The sub uses passive sonar, so if the underwater mountain made no noise, it would be undetectable. There is also a fathometer, but it isn't forward looking.

[null and void]

Yeah. If the pressure hull had been breached, it would have been game over.

I suppose it’s remotely possible that some miracle of luck and skill would have allowed some of the crew to survive.

[OA5599]

The picture looks like the boat was ripped open like a tuna fish can. I'm just amazed that it didn't fill with water in about 5 seconds.

The sea-foam green insides you are looking at in that photo or of the three forward ballast tanks and not inside the pressure hull. Still amazing though. And I served aboard that ship. We used to have to calculate how much water would flow into the ship from a 1/4" crack at 700ft for example on written tests from time to time. IIRC, a hole that small at such a depth would overwhelm the main drain pump.

[relee]

I guessing they repaired her in a dry dock. It can be difficult to see what’s in a dry dock unless you are adjacent to or in the dry dock.

[Cheetahcat]

“The main reason for the delay was that they had to wait for a new bow section, which came from the donor boat USS Honolulu. For a time it was not certain the idea would work. There were concerns that the hull may have been deformed; additionally it had never been done before. Ultimately a little ingenuity and a lot of money (don't know the number) made it work.

Makes sense.”

Actually it is MONEY it can do Amazing things.

[Captain Rhino]

IIRC, the Captain was blamed because he is always responsible but the primary fault was with the navigation team.

You probably already know this, but sonar is useless at high speed due to the amount of noise being generated by the submarine's hull during its passage through the water. So you cannot use sonar to detect the growing undersea volcanic mountain as an obstacle in the ship's path. The only defense the ship has against this type of accident is thorough voyage planning prior to the start.

The board felt the navigation team should have noted evidence of “disturbed water” in the vicinity of the collision site (caused by underwater volcanic activity) in the satellite photographs provided to them prior to the voyage. Had they noticed this and evaluated it properly, the correct action was to replot the high speed course to pass well away from the suspect area.

[Osage Orange]

Very interesting....

I've learned some new things...

Thanks very much.......

[rednesss]

"The sea-foam green insides you are looking at in that photo or of the three forward ballast tanks and not inside the pressure hull."

It makes sense now that I take a look at this pic.

[Gatún(CraigIsaMangoTreeLawyer)]

Thank you.

[Dan(9698)]

the donor boat USS Honolulu.

It was flat lined and on support at another place.

[Robe]

To All Bubble Heads .... In that picture..; aren't the forward vertical launch tubes missing?????

[OA5599]

The San Fran is SSN-711 which did not have vertical launch tubes. That started with the SSN-718 I think. We could fire Tomahawks out of the torpedo tubes however.

[Gatún(CraigIsaMangoTreeLawyer)]

Thank you for that information.

[sionnsar]

Say WA? Evergreen State ping

Quick link: WA State Board

FReepmail sionnsar if you want on or off this ping list.

Ping sionnsar if you see a Washington state related thread.

[Leisler]