USS Hartford Collides With U.S. Amphib Off Iran

CNN is reporting that USS Hartford (SSN 768) collided with USS New Orleans (LPD 18) in the Strait of Hormuz on Friday, and that there were injuries aboard the submarine. Here's the news release from Fifth Fleet:

A U.S. Navy submarine and U.S. amphibious ship collided in the Strait of Hormuz early Friday morning, March 20, 2009.
The collision between USS Hartford (SSN 768) and USS New Orleans (LPD 18) occurred at approximately 1:00 a.m. local time (5:00 p.m. EDT, March 19).
Fifteen sailors aboard the Hartford were slightly injured and returned to duty. No personnel aboard New Orleans were injured.
Overall damage to both ships is being evaluated. The propulsion plant of the submarine was unaffected by this collision. New Orleans suffered a ruptured fuel tank, which resulted in an oil spill of approximately 25,000 gallons of diesel fuel marine. Both ships are currently operating under their own power.
The incident is currently under investigation.

Obviously, there are no specifics out yet, but if the submarine had that many people injured, it's safe to assume she was going faster that you might expect a submarine to go at periscope depth; or, if she was at PD, that she got spun over fairly far onto her side before righting herself.

Our prayers are with our fellow Submariners and their families.

Staying at PD...

Update 0806 21 March: Here's a detail from a picture of USS Hartford on the surface released by the Navy:

Based on what we see in the picture (no 'scope up, lots of damage to the port side of the sail, possible twisting towards the starboard side), and based on the statement by the Navy in this Navy Times article that the Hartford was "submerged but near the surface", I'd say that the evidence is pointing towards the submarine being either at or transitioning to or from PD when the collision occurred. The fact that neither 'scope is up in the picture indicates that they can't be raised, so does this mean they were lowered when the collision occurred? This would make sense if the OOD had spotted the New Orleans and called for an "emergency deep"; the 'scope gets fully lowered much more quickly than the boat is able to get very deep (especially in shallow water.) If she got hit in the sail, then Hartford would have rolled on her side; the number of injuries make it seem that she would have rolled pretty far. Some commenters have guesses in the comments that I'm not able to refute at this point.

Staying at PD...

Update 0827 21 March: In this picture released by the Navy (check out the hi-res version for more detail), they appear to have the bridge manned, and have the National Ensign attached to the BRA-34 mast. That is really good news; no one wants to do a completely blind landing in Bahrain or wherever they're heading.

Update 1545 21 March: The Navy website has some more pictures of USS Hartford arriving in port at Bahrain, and all I can say is... wow; U.S. warships are certainly designed to keep operating even with substantial damage. You can see the pictures of the Hartford here, here, here and here. Pictures of USS New Orleans, which don't show any obvious damage like the ones of the Hartford, can be found here, here, and here. BZ to the Navy for releasing these pictures; if we have nothing to hide, as is the case here, there's no reason we can't let everyone know that's the case.

Update 0510 23 March: Strategy Page has a summary of the three "recent" submarine collisions in the SOH/Arabian Gulf. The comment thread here is becoming unwieldy, so I'm closing it; I think we've pretty much covered everything there is to discuss, absent more actual information being put out by the Navy.

Tragedy Onboard USS Nebraska

Details are still sketchy, but the Navy announced that a Sailor aboard USS Nebraska (SSBN 739) died accidentally on Saturday while the sub was operating submerged off the coast of Oahu:

Lt. Kyle A. Raines said in an interview the crew member was mortally injured while the sub was beneath the surface of the ocean. He was given emergency medical treatment on board the sub and was placed on a medical helicopter. but Raines says he died before reaching a hospital.
Raines says there was no indication that a mechanical problem or malfunction was involved, nor was anyone else injured.

The prayers of Submariners everywhere are with the men and families of the USS Nebraska.

Staying at PD...

Update 1533 22 Sep: I haven't seen any additional press releases from the Navy, so the Sailor's identity is still being withheld pending notification of next of kin. Based on the comments on this article in the Kitsap Sun, the Nebraska's Blue Crew has the boat now.

Update 1724 23 Sep: Still no public identification of the identity of the lost Submariner, but as the Navy Times reports, the Naval Safety Center did announce that an "MM3 died after becoming entangled and pinned in rudder ram aboard submarine while cleaning" aboard USS Nebraska on 20 Sep. The ship and crew pulled into Pearl Harbor, and remained there at least through yesterday while the investigation proceeds.

Update 0940 24 Sep: The lost Submariner has been identified as MM3 Michael Gentile, originally from Maine. He had joined the Navy in July 2005, and had previously served on USS Alaska (SSBN 732).

Sailor, Rest Your Oar.

Update 0750 26 Sep: Here's an account of the memorial that the USS Nebraska Gold Crew held for Petty Officer Gentile at Bangor. It sounds like the boat is back out to sea after it pulled into Pearl for the investigation.

USS Houston Radioactive Leak Reported

I'm back online now, but during the short time I couldn't post here after being erroneously identified as a potential "spam blog", a story about submarines and nuclear power showed up on the front page of CNN.com. Excerpts:

Water with trace amounts of radioactivity may have leaked for months from a U.S. Navy nuclear-powered submarine as it traveled around the Pacific to ports in Guam, Japan and Hawaii, Navy officials told CNN on Friday.
The leak was found on the USS Houston, a Los Angeles-class fast attack submarine, after it went to Hawaii for routine maintenance last month, Navy officials said.
The problem was discovered last month when a build-up of leaking water popped a covered valve and poured onto a sailor's leg while the submarine was in dry dock...
...Officials with knowledge of the incident could not quantify the amount of radiation leaked but insisted it was "negligible" and an "extremely low level." The total amount leaked while the sub was in port in Guam, Japan and Hawaii was less than a half of a microcurie (0.0000005 curies), or less than what is found in a 50-pound bag of lawn and garden fertilizer, the officials said.

While us nukes know that this really isn't that big a deal, we really can't talk about it in the open like this. All of us know where the leak came from (it's obvious they weren't using the "drum" this time) but any discussion of coolant discharge is pretty much covered by NNPI, so we can't go there. For example, until this post, there's only one Google return for the search "coolant discharge log"; luckily for me, it's from an official Navy site (Vol. VI, Chapter 25, Para. 25.2.4 of the JFMM), but it only says that the discharge log can be used to determine the number of days in-port or in drydock for URO periodicity determination -- that brief mention at least allows me to mention that such a document exists.

Pretty much all we can do is confirm that the amount of radioactivity reported discharged in port is very, very small and wouldn't be likely to cause any problems. I can also add that, in my experience, the discharge log is one of the most closely audited pieces of administration on the boat, so you can be pretty sure that the numbers the Navy is putting out are right. Not that this will matter to the many alarmists who are sure to come out of the woodwork. Still, I think the Navy did a smart thing by releasing the total curie content of the potential in-port discharge, along with a comparison of how small this level of radioactivity really is.

Update 2205 01 Aug: Checks With Chart has more, including a link to the Navy Times article on the incident.