Crew blamed for grounding US sub (BBC News)

[Up2Late]

(I'll defer to any Navy Vets we have here, but to me, it seems like the Navy and the Pentagon passing "the Buck" again.)

Crew blamed for grounding US sub

The crew of a US submarine that ran aground in the Pacific Ocean in January did not adequately review navigation charts, a Navy report says.

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Sunday, 8 May, 2005, 16:09 GMT 17:09 UK

The grounding could have been avoided if the crew had observed "prudent navigation practices", it says. A sailor died and several were injured in the accident 600km (350 miles) south of the island of Guam, one of the most important US Pacific bases. The nuclear reactor on the USS San Francisco was not damaged.

Data not transferred

The vessel was on its way to Australia, when it ran aground and suffered severe external damage. The submarine hit a mountain while submerged 157m (525 feet) below the ocean's surface. The mountain did not appear on the chart being used for navigation.

But other charts displayed "a navigation hazard in the vicinity of the grounding", the US Navy's 124-page report said. It blamed the team for not reviewing those charts adequately and for not transferring "pertinent data" to the chart being used for navigation. "Even if not wholly avoided, however, the grounding would not have been as severe and loss of life may have been prevented," the report said.

The Los Angeles-class submarines...

(more info at link above)

[Fescue4u]

1. Its ALWAYS the Captains fault

When a boat is grounded.

Thats just the navy way. When a billion dollar boat is nearly destroyed, its your fault, end of story. Even if its not your fault, its still your fault and your career is over.

Not really fair imo, but its the way it is.

[Yellow_Dog]

3. Navy tradition has given way to

the modus operandi of the current commander in chief, always place the blame elsewhere, and never, never accept responsibility for even the most blatent mistake.

[driver8]

9. You are right. The aircraft carrier I was on collided with another

ship pulling into Norfolk after a 6 month cruise. Our captain was gone the next day...we never saw him again. The thing is, the captain wasn't even on the bridge. However, the ship is the CO's responsibility -- no matter what.

[LiberallyInclined]

2. can't they develop some kind of forward viewport for those things?

the Seaview on Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea had a really bitchin' one.

[benburch]

5. Ummm.... You usually wouldn't see 50 feet...

Not at all useful for navigation.

[LiberallyInclined]

7. that's why i used the term "develop"...

I think that ocean research/exploration would be a wiser investment than a manned mars program...there's much more to be gained more immediately, IMHO.

[Submariner]

4. It goes higher up than the Captain for sure

like Fescue stated, it is the Captain's fault, but if the Navy gave him updated charts like they should have he probably would have been cognizant of the undersea mound hazard before he entered that area.

However, his control room fathometer should have alerted him and his crew that the bottom was coming up fast and that it's time to slow down and/or move closer to the surface.

I was on the old diesel-electric WWII era boats and our fathometer made a distinct ping/click sound that would have caught our attention quickly if we approached "shallows"....(faster rate of ping/clicks), but I don't know if the nukes have that audible sound or if it's all visual and no one was paying attention. Whatever the cause...shit rolls downhill to the Captain. End of story, end of career.

[kamtsa]

8. The fathometer makes the sub detectable

Emiting ultra sound signal for the purpose of measuring the depth makes the sub detectable. I would not be surprise if the pathometer was turned off.

[Submariner]

11. I know that but at the speed the boat was travelling

the boat turbine noise and cavitation is far louder than having a fathometer turned on to monitor the quickly changing bathymetry.

[KansDem]

15. Who are we hiding from now?

I mean, I could understand this kind of strategy during the Cold War when we didn't want the Russians to know where our subs were. But who are we be hiding from now?

[Submariner]

16. China

They are building a huge fleet of subs.

[pinniped]

6. Sure, underwater mountains are notorious for appearing overnight.

.

[rfkrfk]

13. crew had some type of notice of a hazard, but

my understanding is, the crew had a computer printout
listing 'new-changed-corrected' hazards,
but because the list was so long,
they didn't see the one in their path.

[Skittles]

10. I would like to read BOSSHOG's opinion on this

yes INDEED

[amber dog democrat]

12. This kind of thing will ruin a number of careers

But the captain is ultimately responsible - fair or not.
I was on an older destroyer in a reserve training squadron and we have a number of slightly problematic events such as running aground in our home port, losing practice torpedoes, and colliding bow on with a stone quay while tying up. We also were fouled by a freighter, dragging anchor in the Bolivar Roads - you never like hearing the collision alarm go off at 3; am.

None of these were serious enough to have the captain repremanded, but it can't be a good thing when the log records :14:34 hrs ; SHIP IS AGROUND ,

This will go higher up.

[wakeme2008]

14. A couple good articles and pictures over at hack's place

http://sftt.org/main.cfm?actionId=globalShowStaticContent&screenKey=cmpSpecial&htmlCategoryId=39

I am not Navy and forget what position they did away with, but to save one man they put together two jobs. And what was lost was the person that did the soundings on a regular basis....

It is talked about in one of the articles.

[Algorem]

17. What the hell is all that stuff in the front of that thing?

It's really packed with...stuff.And how the hell did it keep working?