Article

2005-01-27 Home Front: Tech

Navy Shows Sub Damaged in Undersea Accident

Archived material is restricted to Rantburg regulars and members. If you need access email fred.pruitt=at=gmail.com with your nick to be added to the members list. There is no charge to join Rantburg as a member.

Posted by Frank G 2005-01-27 5:07:35 PM|| || Front Page|| [5 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 CRAP! That was a hit!

Posted by Frank G 2005-01-27 5:08:18 PM|| 2005-01-27 5:08:18 PM|| Front Page Top

#2 Wow, that was close to head on. The designers. construction crews and actual crewmembers should feel proud. Thanks for not doing "good enough for government work."

Posted by Mrs. Davis 2005-01-27 5:17:31 PM|| 2005-01-27 5:17:31 PM|| Front Page Top

#3 Yipes.

Posted by Seafarious 2005-01-27 5:21:00 PM|| 2005-01-27 5:21:00 PM|| Front Page Top

#4 I knew it was going to be bad, but holy cow. No wonder there were so many hurt.

Posted by Laurence of the Rats 2005-01-27 5:33:34 PM|| [http://www.punictreachery.com/] 2005-01-27 5:33:34 PM|| Front Page Top

#5 WOW! And she survived! Hats off to the Boat Builders and the crew on this one. Are they still made by GE?

Posted by Cyber Sarge 2005-01-27 5:56:57 PM|| 2005-01-27 5:56:57 PM|| Front Page Top

#6 What I find rather amusing is that the USS San Francisco is a Los Angeles class submarine. :)

Posted by Bomb-a-rama 2005-01-27 6:07:21 PM|| 2005-01-27 6:07:21 PM|| Front Page Top

#7 Holy Smokes!

What I think is even more incredible is that she was something like 600 feet deep when she ran into that mountain.

That she could survive to bring almost all her crew home is simply amazing.

Hat's off to the boat builder.

Posted by Leigh 2005-01-27 6:26:09 PM|| 2005-01-27 6:26:09 PM|| Front Page Top

#8 Well, geez, no wonder! If they took off that tarp they could see where they're going!

Posted by Dar 2005-01-27 6:33:25 PM|| 2005-01-27 6:33:25 PM|| Front Page Top

#9 Sorry--I shouldn't be making light of this accident since it did claim the life of a sailor. Thank God the boat managed to survive this and bring the rest of the crew home.

Posted by Dar 2005-01-27 6:35:04 PM|| 2005-01-27 6:35:04 PM|| Front Page Top

#10 reminds me of 007 returning a car to Q - slightly used...good design, and crewwork saved the ship, obviously. Crew and Capt should get commended, not slapped around, if that seamount was uncharted

Posted by Frank G 2005-01-27 6:36:03 PM|| 2005-01-27 6:36:03 PM|| Front Page Top

#11 Holy Shiite!

Damn, that crew is good.

Can you imagine a sub from any other country in the world surviving this?

Me neither.

Posted by Barbara Skolaut 2005-01-27 7:37:40 PM|| 2005-01-27 7:37:40 PM|| Front Page Top

#12 Interesting. The hit seems to be from the side and above rather than head-on or from below. She must of rolled into the impact. She is sitting on a block up front indicating the keel is intact all the way forward. She was on her way to buckling too it appears. Witness the hump where that guy is walking. That is not part of the design. I think the fore-aft green bulkhead separates the A and B side of the number 1 forward main ballast tank. And the green bulkhead oriented port-starboard separates the number 1 and 2 main ballast tanks. Separating Main Ballast Tanks into 6 forward and 6 aft tanks was a smart design choice instead of going with 2 big ones. If she had ruptured all of the forward main ballast tanks, recovery would have been more challenging than it already was. Whether she would have been able to move enough water from forward trim tanks to maintain a neutral fore-aft trim let alone positive buoyancy is an interesting question. If she could not obtain positive buoyancy, she would have had to ground herself in shallow water in order to save the crew. Also note the 2 shutter doors on the port torpedo tubes. They remain shuttered and bent with the outer hull. They did not rip off let alone peel back. The shutter door sits in front of the muzzle doors of the tubes. The shutter doors are not part of the pressure hull. The muzzle doors are part of the pressure hull if the breech doors are open for tube loading. I wonder what the muzzle doors look like. The tarp is on to hide the sonar array from view, methinks.

Posted by Zpaz 2005-01-27 8:00:54 PM|| 2005-01-27 8:00:54 PM|| Front Page Top

#13 Hmmm. Here is another thought. I wonder if the torpedo tubes themselves are bent. Since the boats always have warshots loaded when underway, I wonder if there might be a Mk-48 torpedo stuck or breeched in the tubes. That would be a challenge to get out. The torpedos use OTTO fuel which is not kind to humans.

Posted by Zpaz 2005-01-27 8:20:09 PM|| 2005-01-27 8:20:09 PM|| Front Page Top

#14 #13

Not to worry about the tube. As far as I know, "688 boat" tubes are located amidships. They're in that position so as not to interfere with the fully hemispherical sonar dome at the bow.

I hope any "real squids" will correct me if I'm Wrong

Posted by Ralph 2005-01-27 10:26:43 PM|| 2005-01-27 10:26:43 PM|| Front Page Top

#15 First thing I noticed after the frontal damage was the hump, indicating buckling. This submarine hit HARD!

Posted by Alaska Paul 2005-01-27 10:33:58 PM|| 2005-01-27 10:33:58 PM|| Front Page Top

#16 ...Holy Mother of Gawd....

Mike

Posted by Mike Kozlowski 2005-01-27 10:58:47 PM|| 2005-01-27 10:58:47 PM|| Front Page Top

14:45 True German Ally
14:45 True German Ally
00:56 Unagum Ulomoper7151
00:56 Unagum Ulomoper7151
00:54 Gravise Spolutle2771
00:54 Gravise Spolutle2771
00:02 Denver Reader 303
23:58 Barbara Skolaut
23:52 AJackson
23:52 Seafarious
23:47 wadikitty
23:44 2xstandard
23:43 phil_b
23:39 RWV
23:25 RWV
23:22 Mike Sylwester
23:04 crazyhorse
22:58 Mike Kozlowski
22:58 Dishman
22:55 Alaska Paul
22:54 Dishman
22:53 Frank G
22:47 Jonathan
22:38 Jarhead