U.S. Naval Vessel Collide in Straits of Hormuz

[C420sailor]

Damn that damage rusted FAST!

 

[CAMike]

Besides the obvious- check out the crack at the base of the sail that runs along the hull. This definitely could have been worse. Luck was on thier side.

 

[swerdna]

http://www.navy.mil/view_single.asp?id=69838

You're not kidding...A LOT worse.

 

[Schnugg]

Is it me or is that sail listing to starboard?




Oh yeah...that's not good.

 

[MasterBates]

I'm thinking that one might come home via surface transport.

 

[Mumbles]

wow...pictures really do speak a thousand words...but I'm speechless.

 

[usmarinemike]

I'm thinking that one might come home via surface transport.

That's what I was thinking. Same way as the Cole. I'm not exactly a sub expert, but that doesn't look like 1st echelon maintenance work.

 

[BigRed389]

That's what I was thinking. Same way as the Cole. I'm not exactly a sub expert, but that doesn't look like 1st echelon maintenance work.

This really sucks. Mishaps in recent years have done significantly more damage to naval vessels than the enemy.

 

[DangerousDan]

Just saw this break on the news. Apparently a sub and an amphib collided in the Straits of Hormuz. Its not a good time right now for the surface Navy. Just read it was the USS Hartford and the USS New Orleans.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/03/20/navy.vessels.collide/index.html
On a side note there is an interesting article in this weeks Navy Times by Professor Horner from the Naval Academy concerning his perceptions of the surface navy culture.

The PAO they quote is a friend of mine from the Academy who I ran into out there last summer when I was out there.

 

[picklesuit]

This should shine a light on what good DC crews can do...that was a shit-ton of damage and they still got it back to port under their own power...good job on those guys for plugging the holes...

 

[bubblehead]

I'm interested to know how the bubbleheads do SoH transits if it's not an OPSEC issue.

I'll direct you towards "The Stupid..." blog which is to submarines what AirWarriors is to aviation, and SailorBob to SWOs.

http://bubbleheads.blogspot.com/2009/03/uss-hartford-collides-with-us-amphib.html

Carry on...

 

[bubblehead]

This should shine a light on what good DC crews can do...that was a shit-ton of damage and they still got it back to port under their own power...

DC is what earning your submarine warfare insignia is all about.

 

[cfam]

That's seems to be the consensus from those who've spent time with the Europeans...USNA guys who had NATO exchange instructors on the YPs say they were far better shiphandlers.

Having said that, it might be worth looking at WHY they're better shiphandlers.
One reason might be that they break down by specialties. Early on, the SWO/sub guys figure out if they're going to be Engineers, Combat Systems types, or Tactical/Shiphandling types. Only the last bunch are on a CO pipeline.

Whereas in our Navy, there was a point when we took non Engineering Officer of the Watch (EOOW) qualified LTs and made them Chief Engineers (CHENG) on CRUDES ships.

I had a Royal Navy LTCDR as my safety officer for two summers on YPs at USNA. He thought that it was a combination of their specialization, and the fact that most junior SWOs are trained to simply parrot the commands their CO/XO give them, rather than truly learning how to navigate/handle the ship. He said that his training in the RN had taught him to safely handle situations without constantly needing his CO standing by holding his hand.

 

[DanMa1156]

I had a Royal Navy LTCDR as my safety officer for two summers on YPs at USNA. He thought that it was a combination of their specialization, and the fact that most junior SWOs are trained to simply parrot the commands their CO/XO give them, rather than truly learning how to navigate/handle the ship. He said that his training in the RN had taught him to safely handle situations without constantly needing his CO standing by holding his hand.

I'm pretty sure you and I had the same officer for YP's... awesome guy. I learned a TON about shiphandling from him, not to mention fantastic late night discussions on the bridge.

 

[HeyJoe]

I'm pretty sure you and I had the same officer for YP's... awesome guy. I learned a TON about shiphandling from him, not to mention fantastic late night discussions on the bridge.

Please enlighten us.... "There I was, at 12 knots, er, make it 14 knots with line of bearing, decreasing range at 20,000 yds! What to do, what to do?"