Everyone on board is safe but USS Houston and USS City of Corpus Christi mooring lines broke free from the pier at Alpha wharf at Naval Base Guam due to the tsunami wave. Tug boats from Naval Base Guam responded quickly to the situation. Both submarines are safe and under the control of the tug boats. Crews are currently working to moor the submarines safely to the pier.Prayers going out to everyone in Japan and throughout the northern Pacific affected by this natural disaster. Have you ever been in the middle of a major storm or earthquake?
Update 1411 11 March: It's hard to find non-hysterical reports of the reported emergency at the Japanese Fukushima Daiishu reactor complex, but this one seems to be the most level-headed. Secretary of State Clinton doesn't come off as sounding all that technically-minded ("We just had our Air Force assets in Japan transport some really important coolant to one of the nuclear plants", apparently not realizing that "coolant" is "pure water"), but you can't expect everyone to have a clue about nuclear power.
Update 0837 12 March: This CNN report says they've "begun flooding the reactor containment structure with seawater". As I remember, that's pretty far down the list of actions to take in response to a casualty (in that it means you're never planning on using that reactor again), so if true it sounds like they're in pretty bad shape.
As far as the Guam submarines, word on the street is that the duty sections of both boats did a really good job, especially the Duty Officer on the outboard unit. Those duty section training sessions where you talk through various "what would you do if..." scenarios must have paid off. (In this case, "a tsunami breaks you away from the pier and parts the lines and shore power cables while you have diver's tags hanging".)
Bell-ringer 1224 12 March: Here are English-language press releases from the owner of the plants.
Update 0534 14 March: Apparently the Reagan passed through a very low-level plume about 100nm off the coast, but it was enough for them to pick up. And the explosion at the 2nd plant apparently caused problems at the 3rd plant as well, so that they'll have to wreck it by injecting seawater too.
Update 2022 14 March: I guess I shouldn't be surprised -- many Americans are buying, and maybe using, unnecessary KI tablets.
We're about to lose the ability to see more comments as we go past about 200, so I'm going to open up a new thread on the topic.
