Associated Press
PEARL HARBOR — The first impact knocked the rear of the Ehime Maru toward the sky. Captain Hisao Onishi felt a shudder and heard metal screeching. From inside the bridge, he noticed his instruments were dead. Then, through a window, he saw the water rising.
Testifying before a Navy court of inquiry today, Onishi described the terrifying moments after a submarine crashed into his ship last month. Calm and composed, he spoke through an interpreter before a courtroom packed with families of the Japanese victims and officers of the USS Greeneville.
Prior to his cross-examination, Charles Gittins, an attorney for Greeneville Cmdr. Scott Waddle, told Onishi the commanding officer “accepts responsibility for this accident.”
The two captains later met face-to-face, at which time Waddle apologized.
“I wanted a chance to meet with him to offer an apology,” Waddle told reporters. “It went very well.”
Onishi declined to comment.
The Ehime Maru, carrying 20 crew, 13 teens and two teachers, was on a voyage to teach high school students commercial fishing when the submarine surfaced beneath it. Nine people, including four students, were lost at sea.
The trawler was about nine miles south of Oahu when the Greeneville burst from the ocean and ripped through its stern. Onishi said he heard a “terrible metal hitting sound” between the helmsroom and the stack, followed by more banging.
“We felt an impact as if the stern of the ship was lifted up,” he said.
When he saw the water rising, Onishi ordered his navigator to gather the passengers and abandon ship. Onishi headed for the deck, water already at his heels. People were yelling, trying to confirm everyone had lifejackets, but “no one was in a state where they could respond.”
“They were clinging onto handrails and some structural things of the ship,” Onishi said.
Then the waves started crashing, tossing people into the ocean. Onishi was thrown from the ship before he could even drop the life rafts. Floating in the Pacific, he looked back at his sinking ship and saw men and boys still grasping onto the deck.
Somehow the life rafts dislodged. People scrambled aboard, pulling others inside. All around them lifejackets floated in the water, but no one held on.
“I was hoping that I would find somebody clinging to them,” Onishi said. “We yelled and searched for them, but I was not able to find anybody.”
The submarine, which Onishi thought had gone, drifted close to the rafts. Onishi could see several people on the Greeneville’s bridge.
“We were hoping that they would lower their inflatable rubber boat, but the only thing they did was to lower the Jacob’s ladder,” he said, adding, “They were watching us.”
From the water, Onishi saw his ship disappear. It was gone in just five minutes.
Not until about an hour later, when the Coast Guard arrived, was Onishi able to conduct a head count. He learned then that nine were missing.
The Japanese relatives appeared calm and took notes for the first half of Onishi’s testimony. However, when he said he couldn’t find nine of the passengers, they began sobbing and brushing away tears.
Afterward, Kazuo Nakata was still too upset to talk with reporters. “I would like to say something, but I can’t think,” said Nakata, father of a missing teacher. “I can’t say anything.”
Following the collision, Onishi had criticized the Greeneville’s crew for not doing more to help the accident victims. Today, he said he now understands that the crewmen feared the sub would capsize the lifeboats if it came too close.
Vice Adm. John Nathman, who is overseeing the Navy court of inquiry into the Feb. 9 crash, thanked Onishi for testifying and said he appreciated how difficult it was for him.
“Your testimony is important for a more complete understanding of the collision,” Nathman said.
At the conclusion of his testimony, Onishi implored the court to conduct a thorough investigation and find a way to ensure “this kind of accident would be prevented in the future.”
Waddle, his executive officer, Lt. Cmdr. Gerald Pfeifer; and the officer of the deck, Lt. j.g. Michael Coen; could face possible courts-martial for their roles in the accident. The Greeneville was demonstrating a rapid-surfacing drill for 16 civilian guests when the collision occurred.
A parade of Greeneville crew members took the stand following Onishi and described hearing a thud and feeling the submarine quiver when it struck the Ehime Maru. Petty Officer 1st Class Anthony Thomas, the assistant navigator, said he lost track of where he was for a fleeting moment when he heard the “thump.”
“It shuddered the ship,” he said.
Three crewmen who were manning the sonar room testified they saw no indications of a close contact.
“We didn’t have any of the classic identifiers that would tell us somebody was out there,” Petty Officer 1st Class Roberto Reyes testified. “I’m in denial, I guess. I saw what I saw, and what I saw told me that these guys were distant.
“I can’t explain it,” added Reyes, an experienced sonar operator. “That’s what scares me the most. On any given day I would have done it the same way, and this happened. I second guess myself thousands of times: Did I drop the ball? What if I’d done this?
“I thought we did it right,” he said, “and I still think we did it right.”
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