Skipper Of Damaged Sub Relieved - USS San Francisco 711
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Skipper Of Damaged Sub Relieved
USS San Francisco Commander Guilty Of Hazarding Vessel
Cmdr. Kevin Mooney
TODAY'S TOP STORIES
By ROBERT A. HAMILTON
Day Staff Writer, Navy/Defense/Electric Boat
Published on 2/12/2005
The captain of a submarine that hit a seamount Jan. 8 in the western
Pacific Ocean, killing one crewman and seriously injuring 23 others,
has been found guilty of operating the submarine unsafely and has been
issued a letter of reprimand, effectively ending his career.
Cmdr. Kevin Mooney, the captain of the USS San Francisco, was
permanently relieved as skipper after an administrative proceeding
known as an admiral's mast. The proceeding was convened by an order of
the commander of the Seventh Fleet, Vice Adm. Jonathan Greenert.
Cmdr. Ike N. Skelton, a spokesman for the Seventh Fleet in Yokosuka,
Japan, said late Friday night that Greenert determined during the
investigation that Mooney failed to follow "several critical
navigational and voyage planning" standards.
"By not ensuring those standards were followed, Mooney hazarded the
vessel," Skelton said, reading from a statement issued by Greenert.
The mast concluded that Mooney's crew had access to charts that showed
there might have been an underwater obstruction in the area, and that a
sounding taken just minutes before the accident did not correlate with
the charts that were in use at the time, which should have prompted him
to be more cautious.
The news stunned several Navy sources who have been following the
accident investigation, particularly because Mooney's actions after the
accident were characterized as heroic by everyone familiar with the
situation. Despite extensive damage to the ship, he and his crew got it
to the surface and kept it floating long enough to limp back to its
homeport of Apra Harbor, Guam.
The San Francisco was heading to Australia when it came to periscope
depth a little more than 400 miles southwest of Guam to fix its
position accurately. Minutes after diving, and while traveling at a
high rate of speed, the submarine slammed into a seamount in an area
where official Navy charts list 6,000 feet of water.
Other charts of the area, however, show muddy water in the area, which
normally indicates shallowness, and other government agency charts show
evidence of the seamount less than 150 feet below the surface.
The grounding destroyed three of the four ballast tanks in the
submarine's bow, shattered the sonar dome and smashed the sonar sphere.
In addition, a bulkhead at the front end of the ship was buckled.
Machinist Mate 3rd Class Joseph Ashley was killed when he was thrown
more than 20 feet and struck his head on a large pump. Almost two-dozen
others were injured so badly they could not perform their duties,
though they have all since been treated and released from the hospital
in Guam. Seventy-five others received less severe injuries.
The crew saved the ship by constantly running a low pressure blower
meant for only intermittent use to force water out of the badly damaged
forward ballast tanks, as well as using exhaust from the ship's diesel
motor to augment the blower.
Despite the force of the blow, the nuclear reactor and the ship's
turbine generators continued to operate normally, and even sensitive
electronic and navigation gear continued to function.
On Jan. 20, Mooney was reassigned to Submarine Squadron 15 in Guam,
pending the results of an investigation to determine the cause of the
sub's grounding. Cmdr. Andrew Hale, the squadron's deputy commander,
assumed duties as captain of the San Francisco.
The mast means that Mooney will not face a more serious proceeding
known as a court martial, but the letter of reprimand and the decision
to relieve him of command "for cause" means that his promising
career is over, the Navy sources said.
In a related development, Lt. Cmdr. Jeff A. Davis, a spokesman for the
Pacific submarine force commander, said late Friday night that
assessment of the damage to the San Francisco is proceeding and that
shipyard workers in Guam are planning to make temporary repairs to the
bow of the ship so it can be moved under its own power to a shipyard
where it can be repaired.
Although the location where it will be repaired has not been
determined, Navy sources said it would likely be Pearl Harbor, Hawaii,
or Bangor, Wash.
"These temporary repairs will be engineered to ensure a successful
transit," Davis said. "As part of having on-hand materials for
potential use in these temporary repairs, a large steel dome about 20
feet high and 20 feet in diameter will be arriving at Guam in the next
few days. As of now, no decisions have been made about when USS San
Francisco will depart Guam, where it will go, or what her final
disposition will be."
Other Navy sources said that if the assessment determines it makes
sense to repair rather than scrap the San Francisco, the Navy will
likely use the entire bow section from the recently decommissioned USS
Atlanta to replace the badly damaged bow of the San Francisco.
Sources: USS San Francisco skipper faces admiral's mast in sub
grounding
By Jon R. Anderson, Stars and Stripes
European edition, Saturday, February 12, 2005
Courtesy of the U.S. Navy
A source says Cmdr. Kevin Mooney, above, is slated to appear before 7th
Fleet commander Vice Adm. Jonathan W. Greenert in Yokosuka on Saturday
morning in connection with the Jan. 8 grounding of the USS San
Francisco, shown below in dry dock at U.S. Naval Base Guam.
Courtesy of the U.S. Navy
The skipper of the nuclear-powered submarine that crashed into the side
of an undersea mountain is quietly being sent before an "admiral's
mast" in Japan this weekend to face charges of endangering his ship,
according to several active-duty and retired Navy sources familiar with
the case.
Cmdr. Kevin Mooney was slated to appear before 7th Fleet commander Vice
Adm. Jonathan W. Greenert in Yokosuka on Saturday morning, the sources
said.
The Navy's highest form of nonjudicial punishment, admiral's mast
falls short of the criminal proceedings of a court martial, but can
result in anything from full exoneration to fines, reprimands, and loss
of qualifications.
Publicly, Navy officials decline to comment on Mooney's case.
"It would be inappropriate to discuss any nonjudicial punishment
proceedings at this time," said Greenert's spokesman, Cmdr. Ike
Skelton.
On Jan. 18, the San Francisco, a Los Angeles-class, fast-attack
submarine, is believed to have rammed into an undersea mountain 350
nautical miles south of its homeport at Guam. One sailor was killed and
another 23 injured in the incident.
The sub suffered massive damage to its sonar dome and bow structure,
but was able to limp back to Guam where it is now in dry dock. Navy
officials are still unsure if the sub can be salvaged.
Mooney's mast, however, comes before the detailed investigation into
the accident is complete. And unlike most nonjudicial punishment
throughout the rest of the military, sailors from sea-going commands
cannot refuse mast and demand a court- martial.
At issue, say officials, is whether charts supplied to Mooney provided
any clue of dangerous waters. Officials at the National
Geospatial-Intelligence Agency in Bethesda, told reporters after the
accident that the main maps used by the U.S. Navy did not reveal any
obstacle anywhere near the sight of the crash.
Officials familiar with case, however, say another, much older chart
was believed to be aboard the San Francisco indicating discolored water
several miles away.
Early findings of the Navy's investigation appear to indicate some
level of "questionable" practices by Mooney, according to a Feb. 7
letter obtained by Stars and Stripes to Greenert from the commander of
Pacific submarine forces Rear Adm. P.F. Sullivan.
Preliminary findings of the grounding, reads the letter, "highlights
the questionable Voyage Planning processes and navigation practices
Cdr. Kevin Mooney implemented and maintained while in command. He was
responsible for the safe surfaced and submerged navigation of the ship,
and should be held accountable."
Still, the vast majority of the three-page letter outlines Mooney's
many accomplishments while in command of the San Francisco.
Sullivan said he had personally selected Mooney "to correct
significant command climate and performance issues" aboard the ship.
Since taking command in late 2003, Sullivan said Mooney was directly
responsible for transforming a down-in-the-dumps crew into one of the
best in the fleet.
The ship, he wrote, got the highest marks of any Pacific submarine in a
grueling Tactical Readiness Evaluation, among other top line
certifications of its nuclear propulsion system and engineering
departments.
Mooney's "operational planning skill and command presence ensured
the ship's success in dynamic operations of vital importance to
national security," adds Sullivan.
"In the face of huge quality-of-life challenges faced by his ship,
including a five-month deployment to San Diego for material repairs and
transforming Guam into a viable submarine homeport, retention and
reenlistment rates significantly exceed fleet norms" under Mooney,
writes Sullivan.
"Despite the intense scrutiny under which he has been placed as a
result of this tragedy, Cmdr. Mooney has conducted himself with honor
and dignity. I ask that you consider his positive contributions to the
U.S. Navy during your deliberations at Admiral's Mast."
Damaged Nuclear Sub Back Home
HAGATNA, Guam, Jan. 10, 2005
In photo released by the U.S. Navy, the USS San Francisco is escorted
by two harbor tugs in June 2004 as it returns to home port in Guam
after five-months at sea (Photo: AP (file))
(AP) A sailor who had recently re-enlisted for five more years died
when a nuclear submarine ran aground, damaging the vessel's bow but
leaving its reactor plant intact, authorities said.
The Navy said 23 other people were injured Saturday, when the USS San
Francisco ran aground about 350 miles south of Guam. The submarine
reached its home port of Apra Harbor here Monday under its own power, a
Navy spokesman said.
Navy medical personnel from Guam were brought aboard the submarine to
treat the injuries, which included broken bones, lacerations, bruises
and a back injury, the Navy said. The submarine has a crew of 137.
The sailor killed was identified as Machinist Mate 2nd Class Joseph
Allen Ashley, 24, of Akron, Ohio. He died Sunday of his injuries, said
Jon Yoshishige, spokesman for the U.S. Pacific Fleet in Honolulu.
Ashley graduated in 1999 from Manchester High School where he played
drums with the marching band, his mother, Vicki Ashley, said on Sunday.
She said he followed the footsteps of his father, Daniel, who served
eight years in the Navy during the Vietnam War.
Just a few months ago, Ashley re-enlisted for five more years, his
mother said. Friends and neighbors placed small American flags on the
lawn of his family's home.
Officials said they still don't know what the Los Angeles-class
submarine hit, but Lt. j.g. Adam Clampitt of the Pacific Fleet said it
had been conducting underwater operations at the time.
The extent of damage to the 360-foot submarine was not immediately
determined, Yoshishige said. An investigation was being launched into
the cause of the accident.
The San Francisco is one of three submarines based on Guam. Located
west of the international dateline, Guam is a U.S. territory about
3,700 miles southwest of Hawaii.
What Exactly Is Under the Sea?
By Rowan Hooper | Also by this reporter Page 1 of 1
02:00 AM Feb. 08, 2005 PT
The nuclear-powered submarine USS San Francisco was heading toward
Australia on Jan. 8 when it hit an underwater mountain not marked on
naval charts. The impact brought the sub to an almost instantaneous
stop, killing one crew member and seriously injuring 23 others.
The accident raises the question of why a state-of-the-art vessel in
the world's most powerful military was effectively operating blind. The
inner hull of the submarine was not breached, but one death resulted.
Why, with sonar and satellite scanning, is so little known about the
topography of the seabed?
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An obvious answer is that there is simply a vast area of underwater
seascape to measure.
"Precision surveys only exist for less than 10 percent of the world's
oceans, usually well-traveled commercial routes," said Capt. Jeffery
Best of the Naval Oceanographic Office in south Mississippi.
To make matters worse, scanning techniques until recently have been
ineffective. "Most of the world's oceans are imprecisely mapped, and
depths from Captain Cook using lead lines are still used on some
charts," said Barbara Reed, director of the Naval Oceanographic
Office's hydrography department.
Incomplete and outdated charts seem to have been the problem in the
case of the San Francisco.
Since the accident, the submarine's commander has been reassigned
pending a full investigation, but officials at the National
Geospatial-Intelligence Agency in Bethesda, Maryland, revealed that the
seabed charts had not been updated since 1989. A blurry satellite image
of the accident site from 1999 gives only a suggestion of a submerged
structure, according to the agency -- it could just as easily be a
plankton bloom or an oil slick.
"What is needed is something that can turn the sea transparent," said
Chris Wooldridge, a marine geographer at the School of Earth, Ocean and
Planetary Sciences at Cardiff University in Wales. And that is exactly
what the latest software and hardware does.
Wooldridge is head of the CodaOctopus laboratory, which opened Feb. 1.
His team will use new technology to map extensive areas off the coast
of Wales to create a virtual-reality image, allowing scientists to
"walk" the seabed from the laboratory, or from aboard a vessel
offshore.
A central part of the new technology is the Echoscope. Where
conventional sonar uses one beam to build up a picture gradually,
Echoscope uses an array of more than 16,000 beams to create an
instantaneous, real-time image.
"It's like the difference between scanning a dark room with only a
pencil flashlight, and turning on the light," said Paul Baxter, a
spokesman for CodaOctopus in Deddington, England. "And because
Echoscope works in real time, we have, in effect, an acoustic camera."
With better mapping will come better understanding. Increased
information could improve the prediction of earthquakes, tsunamis and
hurricane-induced floods.
Apart from the vastness of the ocean and the outdated charts, there is
another reason why the topography of the seabed could be poorly known:
Some governments hang onto their information. How much exchange of
information is there?
"Countries are still playing the deep Cold War, still deploying nuclear
submarines with nuclear weapons," said Wooldridge. "Subs use
temperature and salinity as well as depth to hide, and some of these
details are classified."
However, Wooldridge said, information is still exchanged. "It's of
benefit to no one if a nuclear-powered submarine runs aground in
international waters."
The Naval Oceanographic Office agrees.
"Every country with a coastline has an economic interest in making
charts of shipping routes and their country's ports available
commercially," said Best. "The U.S. Navy has worked cooperatively for
many years with countries in their territorial waters and assists many
countries in developing their own surveying and charting capability.
Those countries, in turn, make their charts available."
Ken Peterson
"One 'ah shit' takes away all of your 'atta-boys'!"
Maj Pete
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Date: Sat, 12 Feb 2005 13:09:31 -0800