Report on USS Greeneville - Ehime Maru collision

[Bill Nichols]

The NTSB has released its report on the USS Greeneville - Ehime Maru collision. I strongly recommend reading it, as it gives an excellent description of what goes on aboard a US nuclear sub while underway.

Link here:

http://www.ntsb.gov/publictn/2005/MAB0501.htm

[Oberon]

Good link Bill, now reading it.

[Psycluded]

Ugh... the way it reads, the CO and Officer of the Deck were simply not communicating well with the sonar room. The instant the signal-to-noise ratios rose, it should have been reported, so Fire Control's attention could be called to it. TFOW could have then determined that his range estimates were incorrect and reported it to the conn.

Bad case of miscommunication, resulted in some deaths. The skipper is taking responsibility, as he should, though.

[Terrax]

Excellent read Bill, thanks. Has a similar report on the events of the San Francisco crash been published?

[Bill Nichols]

Excellent read Bill, thanks. Has a similar report on the events of the San Francisco crash been published?

Nope. Because the San Francisco crash didn't involve any civilians, the NTSB doesn't have jurisdiction. The Navy isn't likely to make its internal investigation public... :shifty:

[Kapitan]

and thats the silent service for you

[Konovalov]

What an interesting read this report is. Only just started to go thru it but this is a great find Bill. Funny coincidence that both the ship and LAX class submarine were built in 1996.

[tycho102]

That is an amazing article. Thanks for pointing it out, Bill!

I've only read about 2/3's through it, but I have to say that, although it was a horrible disaster, it was also a f*cking amazing feat!

If you're out of torpedos and you need to drop a boat, this is how you do it. And here they hit this boat, out of all the square kilometers in the ocean, without "significant" damange to the sub. That is like trying to shoot a gnat with a rifle from 400 meters. Just incredible. Terrible luck on the humane side, and amazing "luck" on the Silent Hunter 3 side.

If the OOD had waited just ten seconds before ordering the ballast blow, or if the civilians had just been ten seconds late in turning the valves, it would have been a near miss rather than a perfect hit.

The ocean is a big damn place, even 50km off the coast. If you knew exactly what you were doing, I bet you couldn't hit a boat (on a perpendicular course, at that!) during a ballast-blow, at periscope depth, 50% of the time. Even less to do it aft of the sail. And thousands of times less to do it unintentionally. Most of us struggle to hit a boat with a torpedo, on purpose.



This was just a horrible accident, like Apollo 13 or Titanic or being struck by lightning. It's terrible, but amazing. Very interesting to read.

[Bill Nichols]

That is an amazing article. Thanks for pointing it out, Bill!

I've only read about 2/3's through it, but I have to say that, although it was a horrible disaster, it was also a f*cking amazing feat!

If you're out of torpedos and you need to drop a boat, this is how you do it. And here they hit this boat, out of all the square kilometers in the ocean, without "significant" damange to the sub. That is like trying to shoot a gnat with a rifle from 400 meters. Just incredible. Terrible luck on the humane side, and amazing "luck" on the Silent Hunter 3 side.

If the OOD had waited just ten seconds before ordering the ballast blow, or if the civilians had just been ten seconds late in turning the valves, it would have been a near miss rather than a perfect hit.

The ocean is a big damn place, even 50km off the coast. If you knew exactly what you were doing, I bet you couldn't hit a boat (on a perpendicular course, at that!) during a ballast-blow, at periscope depth, 50% of the time. Even less to do it aft of the sail. And thousands of times less to do it unintentionally. Most of us struggle to hit a boat with a torpedo, on purpose.



This was just a horrible accident, like Apollo 13 or Titanic or being struck by lightning. It's terrible, but amazing. Very interesting to read.

You have an interesting perspective... ;)

[Bubblehead555]

hehe, the 'little boat, big ocean' theory of going to PD in a heavy contact area ... get the guys on the left going left, guys on the right going right ... worked for me everytime.