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Originally Posted by swimsalot
Not sure about what sub it was, but when I was active duty, we were sent on a SAR mission in the Pacific for a large trawler with fire damage and inuries. Apparently there was a sub very close to the ship, they wouldn't assist due to "mission prioritites". Since we were at peace time, I was surprised. Now that I know a little more about sub ops, I guess I'm not surprised. Would a sub typically assist a ship in distress, assuming they knew about it? (not sure how this sub knew, but I guess they did, as some of the coordinates were relayed to the carrier form the sub).
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If it is possible we technically should try, but it is not always possible/safe to do so, and an SSBN is probably going to ask for someone else to do it regardless.
We don't have any boats we can put over to transfer personnel or materials, and as big as we are we can't exactly pull alongside another vessel (especially a damaged one). After the USS Cole incident we would be pretty stupid to do so as well. It's just not practical for us to rush to help someone who is merely broken. If they're truly in distress and sinking, that is little different, but even then the most we would be able to do is fish people out of the water. No RHIB means we're not much help.