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| A Broken Arrow in Puget Sound?.... |
| 2004-03-11 |
| Slightly EFL - another version of this is also at http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/164280_nuke11.html . Have a salt shaker handy because of the original source... SILVERDALE, WA. ? A Navy Strategic Weapons Facility, Pacific handling crew came within inches of impacting a live Trident I C4 missile nuclear warhead during a Nov. 7, 2003 daylight dockside offload of the USS GEORGIA (SSBN - 729) at Submarine Base, Bangor, WA. President Bush was notified immediately Not very likely, though he was probably told within a day or so. of the ?BROKEN ARROW,? a military code word alerting military governors of a nuclear weapons accident. SWFPAC was shut down instantly, prohibited from continued weapons handling evolutions. SOP, no problems. SWFPAC?s de-certification seriously limited essential stateside military operations. No it didn?t. Anything militarily necessary to get a boomer to sea would have continued, with troops from anotrher base doing the work if need be. The submarine?s missile was hoisted up into an access ladder left installed in tube #16 slicing a 9-inch hole in the nosecone. The lift was stopped inches from one of the missiles multiple warheads, a distance measured between thumb and forefinger. ...Which is why they have protective covers on them. Impact concussion, impalement, or crushing a nuclear warhead can cause deadly plutonium air and water radiation contamination, non-nuclear explosion, sympathetic non-nuclear explosions (other warheads), and missile propulsion fueled fires. Naval Criminal Investigative Service investigation ruled out terrorist involvement or connections. Again, SOP. This stuff happens a lot more regularly than one might imagine. Captain Lawrence Lehman relieved SWFPAC?s former CO, Captain Keith Lyles, on Dec. 19, 2003. Citing ?loss of confidence? in Lyles, Navy officials gave no other details in their Christmas press release. Rear Admiral Charles Young ordered Captain Lyles? relief for cause . Young is responsible for the care and feeding of all fleet ballistic missile submarine nuclear weapons. Enlisted men on the handling team face court-martial or less severe disciplinary action. Petty officers Robert Steel was topside supervisor, Mark Hammock - topside team leader, and Christopher Hamilton a topside team member. CDR Phillip Jackson (SWFPAC?s executive officer), and CDR Marshall Millett (weapons officer) were also canned in what?s been coined the ?royal flush.? I?ve seen what happens when an accident involving nuclear weapons takes place. Perfection and nothing but is the only acceptable standard. It would have been news if these guys weren?t relieved. A lift fitting must be attached to a missile before it?s hoisted up and out of the submarine silo. The tube hatch is opened, an access ladder affixed inside the silo above the nosecone. A sailor climbs down the ladder, attaches the lift fitting to the ICBM, then after connecting the hoist to the lift fitting, climbs back up on deck. The access ladder must be removed from above the nosecone before the missile is lifted skyward. On Nov. 7 2003, it wasn?t. Which means Seaman Dumbjohn was NOT following technical data. The handling crew took a break after making the bird in tube #16 ready for lift, leaving the access ladder in place. The sailors returned and began the hoist. The missile was lifted into the ladder slicing a large hole in the nosecone. The lift was stopped a instant before warhead impact. SWFPAC failed a weeklong nuclear weapons acceptance inspection (NWAI), ending Dec. 16, 2003, attempting new certification after corrective measures were implemented. Capt. Lehman led the 40-man inspection team. Now this does bother me a bit, because it indicates that there was a certain lack of focus at Bangor. SWFPAC passed its second NWAI on Jan. 9, 2004 ending a 9-week shut down of the nuclear weapons handling facility. Seen that happen too - in Strategic Air command, no less. Navy seniors have issued a gag order to all military and civilian personnel familiar with the accident that threatens court-martial or other federal punitive action if violated. This guy seems to enjoy making news out of the obvious. Remember - we neither confirm nor deny the presence... Prevailing winds that day blew at 5 to 10 mph over courthouses in Kitsap, Mason, and Thurston counties, and over the state house and government campus in Olympia. Also downwind the Belfair, WA. home of Congressman Norm Dicks. And if the weapon had been punctured - unlikely becxause of the design and strength of the reentry vehicle - a fire was NOT a sure thing, and for that matter neither wasan spillage of the weapon material. And if both of those had occurred, all they would have had to do was close the hatch. Of course, that woulldn?t have made for such a spooky story... Okay - I get the impression that there definitely was some kind of screwup at Bangor last November. Because of the time lag between the accident and the relief of the leadership there, I think that the USN didn?t initally believe the problem was any more than an isolated accident. However, after they dropped the base recert, that tells me they had a senior leadership that wasn?t paying attention to the details. This was not, however, some indication that our weapons are being batted aroudn like softballs. It also needs to be noted that the gentleman who runs jaghunters has some personal beefs with the USN - the P-I article goes into more detail on that. Mike |
| Posted by:Mike Kozlowski |
| #16 This happened in November and the Seattle PI is just reporting on it now? Did it take them that long to figure out what a Broken Arrow was? |
| Posted by: tu3031 2004-3-11 11:18:16 PM |
| #15 Don't try to downplay this. We were inches from a Cataclysmic Event That Would Destroy All Life On Earth(tm). Fright stories sell. This is why the US should not have nukular weapons. North Korea and Iran are much more careful, so it's OK for them. |
| Posted by: Jackal 2004-3-11 9:40:05 PM |
| #14 The Georgia seems to be a bit of a Bug Boat. She is famous in the submarine force for sinking a tug boat during a personnel transfer in calm open ocean off Midway. The whole thing was captured on tape and is shown to aspiring ship drivers as a cautionary tale. During the evolution the ship maintains course and speed while the tug nudges against the boat amidships. The tug maintains contact while the people jump across. The tug in this case lost power and started sliding aft along the hull. The Officer of the Deck did not notice or was indecisive. He did not order any action. Ohio class boomers have vertical stabilizers on the end of the stern planes. The stabilizer penetrated the tug engine space and the two boats became one as the tug flooded. Everyone might have survivied except the OOD lost his mind at this point and ordered a backing bell. When the Georgia began backing, the drag of the tug slipped the tug off the stabilizer and she proceeded to sink...fast. 3 men died. The last words recorded by someone on the Georgia'a bridge were, "Crap, there goes the mail." S*** happens. Live and learn. |
| Posted by: Zpaz 2004-3-11 8:05:43 PM |
| #13 "Petty officers Robert Steel was topside supervisor, Mark Hammock - topside team leader, and Christopher Hamilton a topside team member." Where was the Weapons Officer (typically a 2nd tour O-3 or O-4 department head), the Assistant Weapons Officer (a first tour 0-2 or 0-3) and the Missile Division Chief Petty Officer (typically a 10 or more patrol enlisted veteran)? Those 3 guys are in charge of the safe execution of the evolution. They don't do the work, they exist to stare at what is happening and intervene. Never mind the Weapons Facility weenies, ship's force is in charge of the evolution while the weapon is on board, the above 3 should get relieved as well as the ship's commanding officer, executive officer and the ship's duty officer. I made 5 SSBN patrols. I was never a weaponeer, but as Ship's Duty Officer, I looked for the 3 top weaponeer's to be in Hard Hats glued to the evolution. This is not an airplane taking off and crashing. It is a controlled evolution in port. There is no justification for the error. Also, boomers are kept in port for failing inspections, be they nuclear weapons inspections or Operational Reactor Safeguards Evaluations, both of which are VERY easy to fail. A boat or two can be expected to fail an ORSE every year. A mistake on certain supporting paperwork, let alone operational performance, rates a failing grade. The boats already at sea or ready for sea pick up the slack. A Weapons Handling Facilty is another matter, I don't know how they would go about picking up the slack if they "lose their keys". |
| Posted by: Zpaz 2004-3-11 7:11:29 PM |
| #12 "If you don't follow the T.O., your ass will be TOssed". How many times have I heard that? Sounds like some definite "career interruptus", with heads rolling all over the place. I was at Holloman AFB when General Ryan's son died in a crash out of George AFB (on a cross-country). It took seven moving companies the better part of a month to handle all the "personnel changes" that took place. John D. Jr. was a popular young officer. His brother, Mike, was my Flight Commander at the Academy in 1964. Both nice guys! Accidents happen. I've spent several long nights looking for crash sites. When it's truly an accident, the military works like hell to make sure it never happens again, if that's possible. When it's an accident due to human carelessness (i.e., this case), the careless humans are removed. Sounds like that system is still in place, and still working. |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2004-3-11 6:25:22 PM |
| #11 Damn my boss for bothering me with work! I meant to say that even if the missile expoded the warhead would not. |
| Posted by: Cyber Sarge (VRWC CA Chapter) 2004-3-11 6:06:10 PM |
| #10 I am not a nuclear weapons expert! Having said that I have heard that in order for one of these babies to BOOM the thing has to be armed. A rupture of the missile might cause an explosion but probably would make the warhead reach critical mass. You have to remember that these are designed to re-enter the earths atmosphere. |
| Posted by: Cyber Sarge (VRWC CA Chapter) 2004-3-11 5:56:39 PM |
| #9 "Impact concussion" can also cause broken toes,smashed fingers,soiled underwear and severe outbreak of Career Interruptus. |
| Posted by: Stephen 2004-3-11 5:42:48 PM |
| #8 Is it just me or does it seem like there is or should be a very detailed checklist that is followed when removing/installing anything related to nuclear weapons? I'll grant Seaman Dumbjohn left the ladder in the tube but just where the fuck was the officer or chief overseeing this job. |
| Posted by: Cheddarhead 2004-3-11 4:52:47 PM |
| #7 Frank, I agree about the Seattle PI. |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2004-3-11 4:05:21 PM |
| #6 Yeah - see http://www.brook.edu/FP/projects/nucwcost/palomares.htm Bumped the tanker, down she goes. Bad buisness all around, later part of a movie : "Men of Honor" And James Bond stopped Goldfinger's bomb with - natch - 007 seconds till detonation... |
| Posted by: mojo 2004-3-11 3:53:55 PM |
| #5 Didn't a BUFF do a serious Broken Arrow off Spain? Or in Spain? |
| Posted by: Shipman 2004-3-11 3:38:00 PM |
| #4 Even if the warhead was impacted, nothing would have happened. Its not like theres a chunk of glowing plutonium duct-taped to the top. Its encased. At worst there would have been a localized spill in the tube - so they'd cap off the tube and then clean it up. |
| Posted by: Yosemite Sam 2004-3-11 3:34:14 PM |
| #3 SOP all the way. Lemme tellya about the time we had a fully armed Alert Buff go down 5 mi off the end of runway 34... |
| Posted by: mojo 2004-3-11 3:30:35 PM |
| #2 the Seattle PI has shown themselves to be idiots in the past (see: Jihadis, Corrie, et al) enough that they should change their name to Seattle UnIntelligencer |
| Posted by: Frank G 2004-3-11 3:30:23 PM |
| #1 The lift was stopped a instant before warhead impact. Methings the 'instant' was added by the journalist for more effect.... kind of like how the hero always disarms the bomb with 1-3 seconds on the clock. The Seattle PI article has more details. |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2004-3-11 1:51:30 PM |