Into the lore of seamanship

[BobR]

USS Hartford Returns to Homeport
Story Number: NNS090522-17
Release Date: 5/22/2009 12:42:00 PM


By Lt. Patrick L. Evans, Submarine Group 2 Public Affairs Officer

GROTON, Conn. (NNS) -- Los Angeles class fast-attack submarine USS Hartford (SSN 768) returned to Naval Submarine Base, New London May 21 after a month-long surface transit from Bahrain.

After that long ride, Hartford is expected to enter Electric Boat shipyard for a thorough inspection to assess required repairs following the March 20 collision with the amphibious transport dock ship USS New Orleans (LPD 18) in the Strait of Hormuz.

Cmdr. Chris Harkins, deputy commander, Submarine Squadron 8, commanded Hartford for the transit back stateside. Harkins took command of the submarine after the commanding officer of Hartford during the collision, Cmdr. Ryan Brookhart, was relieved on April 14 by Rear Adm. Michael J. Connor, commander, Task Force 54 (CTF 54) and commander, Submarine Group 7.

"I was amazed by the crew. They were still engaged. They welcomed me. They were very responsive, and it made my job a lot easier," said Harkins. "When I relieved, we got to work, got the ship trained up and all the equipment certified. The crew worked as a team. They hung in there and did not give up until we were pierside in Groton."

Harkins will return to his position as deputy commander of Submarine Squadron 8 in Norfolk when Cmdr. Robert Dunn takes command of Hartford. The turnover process is underway.

Family members, friends and shipmates dotted the pier to welcome Hartford home.

"They've been gone for a long time. They've been through a pretty traumatic ordeal. We're glad to have them home so we can continue with the recovery process and get the ship back into operational status and ready to go," said Capt. Harvey Guffey, deputy commander of Submarine Squadron 4.

The plan for Hartford, according to Guffey, is to allow the families to conduct a normal stand down for about a month. Then the submarine will head to the shipyard for inspection and assessment in July. The recovery and repair plan is still to be determined.

USS New Orleans returned to sea May 13, fully mission capable after completing repairs at the Arab Shipbuilding and Repair Yard (ASRY) Shipyard dry dock in Manama, Bahrain.

Two formal investigations have been completed; a Safety Investigation and a Judge Advocate General Manual (JAGMAN) Investigation. Both are currently undergoing endorsement reviews, which are expected to take several months to complete.

A month long open water surface transit in a round bottom sewer pipe. There aren't enough well dones for the crew of this boat. The things on the side of the sail don't belong there, that is how they secured the sail so it could transit home.

Good job USS Hartford crew!

bob

[Perd Hapley]

Translate for land-lubbers? 

[dogmush]

Translate for land-lubbers? 

That was a nasty, rolling ride.  Subs aren't really designed to do surface transits, and they aren't really seaworthy.  The crew did a heck of a job MacGyver-ing the sail together to get her home.

[richedkid]

I guess that is a good article about seamanship... my older brother is a seaman... guys how about in the picture... what is that thing in the water? is it a submarine?

[digitalandanalog]

Considering that the options on the sea involve float or sink...sink or swim...sail or die...

It isn't too hard to think some hardy seamen would find a way to stay alive.

[Perd Hapley]

So the sail is the sticky-uppy thing in the front? 

[digitalandanalog]

That would be my guess since the big thing in the middle isn't used for steering.

I think they call it a conning tower.

[MillCreek]

I wonder if the sub had a surface escort during the transit.

[digitalandanalog]

Better question is...

"Where were ships to keep it from sinking with steel rope tethers?"

It has been done before. Why not now?

[MechAg94]

Did the original thread mention how the hell the sub ended up running into a surface ship?

[S. Williamson]

Translate for land-lubbers? 

Broken Submarine Makes It Home Okay, More or Less
Story Number: NNS090522-17
Last Friday at Lunchtime


By a Navy PR Guy

UP IN THE NORTHEAST AREA -- A submarine made it home after a really long trip on the surface of the ocean, which subs aren't made to do.

The sub will get looked at a lot to see how broken it got after bumping into another ship in the Middle East.

Chris drove it back after Ryan, the guy who was driving when it got into the accident, got yelled at by their boss Michael.

"Decent people make things happen faster," said Chris. "They made things work that should've been broken, and they kept them working until we got home."

Chris will go back to riding shotgun when Robert, another driver, takes the keys from Ryan.

People were happy to see the sub get home okay.

"They've been gone for a long time. Accidents suck. We're glad to have them home so we can fix the boat," said Harvey, a guy who rides shotgun somewhere else.

Everyone should be getting a month off for fishing and stuff. In a couple of months, people will figure out if the boat's worth salvaging.

The other boat involved in the accident's already in use again, since they fixed it not too far from the scene of the crash.

Military lawyers are having a heyday.

[Hutch]

Fistie, "Sail" is current-speak for "Conning Tower".  It is indeed the pokey-uppey thing in the front part of the boat.  It usually sticks rather straight up, but this one is bent.  A lot. I bet there are a lot of bent pieces under it, as well.  I bet it leaked a lot, too.  As others have stated, the pitching and rolling on the ride home must have be bloody awful.  These boats were never designed to manage bad weather while on the surface.

Congrats to her crew.

[Fly320s]

Why not just throw it onto a barge like they did the USS Cole? Too big?  Too many secret bits to hide?

[Uncle Bubba]

Why not just throw it onto a barge like they did the USS Cole? Too big?  Too many secret bits to hide?

I wondered the same.

[Perd Hapley]

Wow, thanks, you guys really came through with the dumb land-lubber translation.   

[RoadKingLarry]

As another former Fast Attack sailor I do not envy them that experience.

[MillCreek]

Diony, that was hilarious.

[Sergeant Bob]

Diony, that was hilarious.

That was indeed extremely humorous!

[BobR]

Did the original thread mention how the hell the sub ended up running into a surface ship?

I don't think that will be known for a while, until the accidents reports are published via a FOIA.

The collision occurred with Hartford submerged but near the surface as both were entering the Persian Gulf at night. The contact tore a 16-by-18-foot hole in the hull of New Orleans, ripping open a fuel tank and two ballast tanks. There was “substantial” flooding after the accident, Christensen said.

Hartford’s sail was bent and partially torn off the hull. A bowplane was also reported damaged.

http://www.navytimes.com/news/2009/04/navy_hormuz_repairs_042609w/

From what I have heard, it was one of the bow planes*  on the Hartford that opened up the skimmer (boat that is designed to stay on the surface of the water vice go underwater and return to the surface safely) like a cheap beer can.

*Bow planes..... wing like things on the front of the boat that make it go up and down in the water.



This sub also has a specially hardened sail for breaking through the ice at the North Pole, something that probably helped immensely in this collision.

When hit the sub rolled over about 85 degrees. It is just short of a miracle that no one was killed or severly injured in the collision.

Why not just throw it onto a barge like they did the USS Cole?

Little baby jebus himself couldn't miracle a nooklear vessel onto a non-certified drydock. Way too many issues with nooklear stuff, we would probably have to buy the boat it piggybacked on because of the issues.

bob

[RoadKingLarry]

When hit the sub rolled over about 85 degrees. It is just short of a miracle that no one was killed or severly injured in the collision.

Hell of a way to check "stow for sea" That would have tumbled the gyros and probably done nasty things to ESGN(if they still have that). Would that have triggered an automatic SCRAM?
We took a 35+ degree roll at PD once due to a freak wave and that was ugly enough, and people did get hurt (and a JG got a big bowl of very hot soup in his lap).

As for the barge thing, even shut down the reactor has some critical requirements that couldn't be met on a towed barge at sea.

[Uncle Bubba]

Bob and Larry: Thanks. I hadn't considered the nuke plant issues.

[Gowen]

You know what they say about paybacks:

Hartford is among the oldest cities in the United States, and following the American Civil War, Hartford took the mantle of the country's wealthiest city from New Orleans.

This came from wiki:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hartford

[erictank]

Hell of a way to check "stow for sea" That would have tumbled the gyros and probably done nasty things to ESGN(if they still have that). Would that have triggered an automatic SCRAM?

Seems likely to me - IIRC (and it's been a LONG time, so I don't remember for sure), when we did a builder's trial run on TR, one of the 10-years-since-commissioning ones, the crew on watch had to go to Battleshort for the max-speed turns since the ship was heeling over about 30-35 degrees during said turns.  And I'd better explain Battleshort - it's a switch which allows pretty much all reactor safety interlocks to be bypassed under conditions where the CO determines that the ship MUST NOT lose power.

Naturally, that switch is almost *NEVER* touched.

Can't remember if there was a seismometer trip on my ship or not - there was one on the civilian plant I worked at here in VA, in case of earthquakes, but I don't recall whether or not they had an impact trip on Navy cores.  Regardless, even if there wasn't an impact trip, I can think of a couple of other reasons an auto SCRAM probably should have happened in that case.

[AZRedhawk44]

Umm... what's a SCRAM?

[Scout26]

SCRAM is an emergency shutdown of a nuclear reactor

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scram