 'Really, really big bang' shocked sub commander
Navy must decide just whom to squeeze into courtroom
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By Mike Gordon and David Waite
Advertiser Staff Writers
The crew of the USS Greeneville identified a sonar contact — since determined to be the Ehime Maru — more than an hour before the submarine crashed into the Japanese fishing vessel during an emergency surfacing drill, the Navy has told federal investigators.
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| The fast-attack submarine USS Greeneville lay in drydock at Pearl Harbor yesterday, parts of its hull and superstructure shrouded by blue plastic material. The nuclear ship was damaged in the Feb. 9 collision.
Photo by Chopper 8 • Special to The Advertiser |
Investigators also have learned that the 16 civilian guests in the Greeneville’s control room distracted a crewman who was plotting sonar contacts with pencil and paper, National Transportation Safety Board member John Hammerschmidt said.
"In terms of how important it was, we don’t know at this point," he said. "We thought it was an anomaly we thought should be reported."
Hammerschmidt spoke at a briefing last night on the progress of the NTSB investigation into the Feb. 9 collision of the Greeneville and the Ehime Maru, which was carrying 35 people. Nine are still missing.
After the briefing, the Navy said its court of inquiry into the accident, which had been scheduled to begin tomorrow, will be postponed to 8 a.m. Monday so that attorneys can prepare their cases.
Hammerschmidt said investigators do not know what happened between the 12:32 p.m. sonar contact — which submarine technicians designated "Sierra 13" — and the 1:43 p.m. collision nine miles south of Diamond Head.
"We haven’t determined exactly what was done in that time frame," Hammerschmidt said. "That goes to the heart of the investigation."
Before the surfacing, the officer of the deck used his periscope to make several 360-degree sweeps of the surface, the civilians told NTSB investigators. Only one guest reported seeing what she thought was a ship on the surface.
The guest said she saw the Ehime Maru through a video monitor after the collision and told investigators that it was not the same vessel she had seen earlier, Hammerschmidt said.
Immediately after the collision, the Greeneville’s engineering officer saw the Ehime Maru through a periscope.
"It was low in the water and down by the stern," Hammerschmidt said. "After departing the control room, he had to climb a ladder, open one hatch in the sail, open a second hatch, then a clam-
shell door to gain access to the bridge. The Ehime Maru had sunk by the time the engineering officer got to the bridge."
Investigators also have learned more about what the visitors experienced during their cruise. After tours and lunch, they were taken to the control room for "high-speed maneuvers."
"The guests stated that the maneuvers were steep enough that they had to be seated or to hold onto something," Hammerschmidt said. "All the guests interviewed so far reported there was no talking, and no one was moving around during any of the maneuvers."
Hammerschmidt said other NTSB investigators in Washington used Air Force and FAA radar data to plot the course of the Ehime Maru in the hours before the collision. The course coincides almost perfectly with information provided to the NTSB by the skipper of the Ehime Maru: The vessel was on a course of 166.09 degrees with an average speed of 11.1 knots.
"The speed and heading agree well with what the Ehime Maru’s master said," Hammerschmidt said.
That radar track stops at almost the same time the collision was reported.
Only one piece of equipment aboard the Greeneville was not working during the trip — a monitor in the control room that relays sonar contacts being watched in the nearby sonar room. The monitor is used by whoever is in charge of the control room to keep on eye on what is being tracked and plotted.
Again, Hammerschmidt said, the NTSB did not yet know the significance of that information.
Hammerschmidt said that in addition to the ship’s captain, Cmdr. Scott Waddle, two other Greeneville officers have refused to speak with NTSB investigators on the advice of their attorneys. All three are to face the court of inquiry.
A Pentagon spokesman, Rear Adm. Craig Quigley, yesterday defended Waddle’s decision.
Waddle refused over the weekend to answer questions about the accident from the safety board. He would respond only to written questions about his crew’s efforts to rescue those on the fishing boat, saying he would answer all questions after the Navy’s court of inquiry is completed.
"I don’t think the NTSB investigation is going to be done for many months," Quigley said, adding that Waddle’s refusal will not have an impact on the board’s investigation.
"I’m sure they will, in fact, take a look at the court of inquiry results when that forum is complete, and incorporate that as part of their review as well."
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said yesterday that he sees value in taking civilians on military exercises. However, a Pentagon spokesman said Rumsfeld would follow President Bush’s directive to review the policy.
"Just this morning, (Rumsfeld) expressed his support for the worth of having an orientation program for citizens to go out and see what their Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps can do," Quigley said.
Rumsfeld has not yet ordered the services to review their procedures regarding civilian participation in exercises, Quigley said. The Navy and the Army have independently begun restricting their visitor programs, continuing to allow guests but keeping them away from equipment controls.
Quigley said he did not know of similar actions in the Air Force and Marine Corps.
The unusual step of opening the court of inquiry to the public will aid the transparency of the process, said Navy spokesman Rear Adm. Stephen Pietropaoli. He said he told Navy officials in Hawai‘i to "make sure we reserve seats not only for the families and government representatives but also for the Japanese media and international press so we can accommodate the enormous interest in Japan on this issue."
Two Washington military experts agreed it was a good idea to open the court of inquiry.
"Military courts tend to be closed to the public, but you’re in a situation here where there are real implications for U.S.-Japanese relations," said retired Army Col. William Taylor, president of Taylor Associates, a Washington-based international consulting firm.
"I think this probably ought to be an exception. It ought to be public, because it was not handled very well to begin with," said Taylor, who has specialized in northeast Asia. "The Navy has nothing to hide. If mistakes were made, they were made, and the court will determine what the outcome should be."
"So far, the Navy has a public relations disaster," agreed Ivan Eland, director of defense policy studies at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank in Washington. "It behooves them to help salvage the ship, get the bodies back, do whatever they can."
Advertiser staff writers Susan Roth and Dan Nakaso contributed to this report.
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