U.S. Navy Ships Collide In Straight of Hormuz

[sonar732]

MANAMA, Bahrain (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090320/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_us_navy_ships_collide)– Two U.S. Navy vessels — a submarine and an amphibious ship — collided early Friday in the Strait of Hormuz between Iran and the Arabian peninsula, the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet reported.
The military said in a statement that the collision occurred around 1:00 a.m. local time on Friday (5 p.m. EDT, Thursday).
The USS Hartford, a submarine, collided with an amphibious ship, the USS New Orleans.

[Tchocky]

Hope no one was hurt.


If I was in the Iranian Navy I'd be laughing so hard right now.

[JALU3]

Nope. It was two US Navy Ships, one being homeported here in SD. The hearing on this one would be a short, but interesting, one to sit it on.

The U.S. Navy says two of its vessels have collided in the Strait of Hormuz, between Iran and the Arabian peninsula.

The Navy's 5th Fleet says the two vessels - a submarine and an amphibious ship - collided early Friday.

The Navy says the amphibious ship USS New Orleans ruptured a fuel tank, and 95,000 liters of diesel fuel spilled into the water. It says overall damage to both vessels is being evaluated.

Fifteen sailors aboard the submarine, USS Hartford, were slightly injured.http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/library/news/dprk/2009/newsmast760.gif Source (http://www.voanews.com/english/2009-03-20-voa18.cfm)

From Commander, U.S. 5th Fleet Public Affairs MANAMA, Bahrain (NNS) -- A U.S. Navy submarine and U.S. amphibious ship collided in the Strait of Hormuz March 20, 2009.

The collision between USS Hartford (SSN 768) and USS New Orleans (LPD 18) occurred at approximately 1:00 a.m. local time (5:00 p.m. EDT, March 19).

Fifteen sailors aboard the Hartford were slightly injured and returned to duty. No personnel aboard New Orleans were injured.

Overall damage to both ships is being evaluated. The propulsion plant of the submarine was unaffected by this collision. New Orleans suffered a ruptured fuel tank, which resulted in an oil spill of approximately 25,000 gallons of diesel fuel marine. Both ships are currently operating under their own power.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/10/Fleet-5.jpgSource (http://www.navy.mil/search/display.asp?story_id=43607)

[OneToughHerring]

What is it with these nuclear subs colliding all over the place these days? If they're looking for good people to pilot their boats they should go no further than Subsim.com. :)

[NeonSamurai]

Other then our often reckless use of available weapons. That and the whole inebriation problem :()1:

[SteamWake]

Merge please ;)

http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=149590

[Digital_Trucker]

Other then our often reckless use of available weapons. That and the whole inebriation problem :()1:

:har:

[Jimbuna]

Other then our often reckless use of available weapons. That and the whole inebriation problem :()1:


LOL....it shouldn't cost much to replace the fuel over there though :DL

[CaptainHaplo]

Actually - in this case the problem is the number of vessels in the area and the restricted depth. While we don't know the details, its a good bet that the sub wasn't surfaced. If it was, that makes things quite different. However, I suspect this is another incident of a ship going over the top of a sub at shallow depth, and the sub being "sucked" upward. In any case, you have to put this on the sub CO. Its his job to be aware of what is going on around his boat at all times - and keep some distance from possible problems like this. The confined depth however may have made such a thing hard to do - but its still his job.

[vtccgolf]

I bet they got zoofed as we call it in the profession, and HARTFORD got sucked right on up. I just can't imagine why the sonar shack didn't realize a friendly warship was about to drive over them.

And not the HARTFORD again...I remember when she was in drydock next to us getting her rudder fixed when she ran aground of Italy.

[JALU3]

I bet they got zoofed as we call it in the profession, and HARTFORD got sucked right on up. I just can't imagine why the sonar shack didn't realize a friendly warship was about to drive over them.

And not the HARTFORD again...I remember when she was in drydock next to us getting her rudder fixed when she ran aground of Italy.

Gotta wonder if the OOD was the same for both events.

[Etienne]

Gotta wonder if the OOD was the same for both events.


I don't know 'bout the USN, but in the civillian world, that sort of things only happen once a carreer - At the very end of it. :D

[bookworm_020]

Insurance for the USN is going to go up after the last couple of dings!:o

[vtccgolf]

Trust me...the OOD wasn't the same. The grounding occurred about four years ago, and they ended up firing everyone involved...the OOD, the ANAV, the NAV, the XO, the CO...I even believe the Squadron CO got fired or had to replace the CO...one or the other. I guess you could say the submarine force has a lot to learn...like there are some things more important than the nuclear reactor.

As for me, I spent my entire junior officer tour in the shipyard save for a couple months at sea...so my driving skills are very weak. Better yet, I have to go to one of the fast attacks where the department heads are the primary ship drivers. This is so I get "enough sea time to screen for XO." I know...it sounds nuts...stick a guy that hasn't drove much of anything where he needs to be an expert.

I guess that's why I love Silent Hunter so much...life is so much simplier once you except the fact the Mark 14 sucks.

Just following orders! :yeah:

[Bubblehead Nuke]

Wow, did you see the photos?

It damn near ripped the sail off the hull. You can see tearing damage all along the port side of the sail at the base and the whole thing is canted at about 20 degree or so angle. Those things are WELDED on solid. Let us not forget that this was an ICE HARDENED sail.

The hit must have been FAR harder than has been reported. Gads, when I look at the photos, I can only wonder how the masts and antenna are. Let alone the damage to the pressure hull from the stress' involved.

I'll bet underwater manuevering was a riot with that damage.

This boat will be out of service for a while.

[Neptunus Rex]

Fairwater - toast. They'll have to build a new one.

Bridge access truck - toast.

ESM Mast - toast.

#1 and #2 Scopes - yeap, toast.

Shnorkle mast - you guessed it, toast.

External hydraulics - toast. Contaminated too I'll bet.

Just write off the entire fairwater, masts and systems.

CO's career - toast.

XO's career - toast.

OOD career - toast.

Navigator - toast.

OPS - toast.

Sonar Sup - toast.

Sonar Chief - toast.

They've gone through so much toast, they ought to rename her USS Wonderbread!

[vtccgolf]

Just in case anyone wanted to see the pics...here they are.

[/URL]http://www.navy.mil/view_single.asp?id=69837 (http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.navy.mil%2Fview_single.as p%3Fid%3D69837&h=02ec15e8dcaa28859f0baab15dce6e17)

[url]http://www.navy.mil/view_single.asp?id=69836

Oh boy...I can't wait to get training on this. And the Navy is worried about my weight.

[Fincuan]

A couple of more photos here: http://navysite.de/ssn/ssn768.htm
Just scroll to the bottom.

[lesrae]

Any more word on the injuries? I see they're reported as minor, which is obviously a godsend.