Pics of Wrecked Sub

[350HP930]

Wow. Props to general dynamics that the sub survived.

[makaio]

What did it hit?

[GettinHeadStuds]

The exxon valdez?

[Jeff Higgins]

I can't believe it survived. Must have still had the spare tire in the front.

He shouldn't have braked.

[350HP930]

That's the sub that hit the 'underground rock formation' a couple weeks ago. A few guys died and a lot were injured since they were doing about 30 mph when it happened.

You would think that an advanced attack sub would have the ability to avoid a large rock formation at the bottom of the sea.

[JavaBrewer]

All my submarine 'expertise' comes from the Hunt for Red October movie...

Don't most of the areas they (subs) run have pretty detailed underwater topo maps, especially around Guam? I don't think they run around all that much with active sonar, kinda limits their stealthy intent. Maybe they hit something else the government isn't talking about.

[Simon S]

time to call the insurance agent..

[turbo6bar]

Undersea mountain is the official claim. There are still parts of the ocean unmapped. From a Yahoo! article, outdated charts in submarine crash note the statement:

"There hasn't been a formal hydrographic sweep through that area of the ocean's bottom."

Burpee said there are currently 150 ships in the world capable of doing that kind of thorough deep water work and it would take all of them 30 years to map the world's deep water.

Guess this is just part of pushing the envelope.

[RoninLB]

big NY Times detailed article..

They have sat pictures that haven't led to up-graded charts due to a very low mapping staff group. The sat pic of the area needs a mapping staff pro to be able to recognize the said mountain. The sub was using a chart from '96, I think. The staff was/is over whelmed tring to complete the more strategic N Pacific. That mt may have caused many WW2 sub sinking, they're not sure about details of them.

incredible survivor story.

[djmcmath]

Modern submarines (almost) always use only passive sonar -- just listening. We avoid hitting the ground by driving based on the chart, mostly. If something isn't on the chart, or is charted inaccurately, we may very well hit it.

The southern hemisphere is particularly bad about underwater topography. We have relatively little data about many areas. While there are spots in the northern hemisphere accurately charted enough to ... well, to have all kinds of fun, the southern half isn't quite so sound. This sort of thing ought to be more common, except that the theory of "Big Ocean Little Submarine" usually works in our favor.

As to this particular seamount, there is a patch of "discolored water" visible on the satellite photos about 5km from where the SFO thought they were when they grounded. Of course, at the depth she was running, the ground that she ran into was probably well below satellite visibility. The investigation so far hasn't found any evidence that the ship should have or could have known about anything at that location.


Dan

[greglepore]

That'll buff out, if you rub it with about 100 million dollar bills.

(no disrespect to the crew intended)

[}{arlequin]

Originally posted by dmoolenaar
All my submarine 'expertise' comes from the Hunt for Red October movie...

Funny you should say that. I've been playing Halo online lately and when the game is set up w/o radar, every now and then you gotta pull a "crazy Ivan" to see if anyone is about to blow your head off from behind. I forgot that phrase until a stoned gamer mentioned it. That one made me laugh.

[arcsine]

With the buckle in the hull seen in the last pic, looks like they are going to have to rebuild it almost back to the conning tower. Ooof.

[hoff944]

I wonder if the adjuster will total it or not?

[djmcmath]

Originally posted by Gary Carlton
With the buckle in the hull seen in the last pic, looks like they are going to have to rebuild it almost back to the conning tower. Ooof.

I don't think they intend to rebuild it. There's also a lot of internal stuff that isn't where it used to be. Watch for this one on eBay: "Slight glancing blow to aft quarter; easily repairable by skilled welder."

Dan