Posted on: Wednesday, August 29, 2001

USS Greeneville damaged in aborted docking

• Navy could raise Ehime Maru stern today in salvage effort

By William Cole
Advertiser Military Writer

The submarine USS Greeneville received minor damage Monday after it aborted an attempt to dock in Saipan in rough seas, the Navy said.

Cmdr. David S. Bogdan, the sub's commanding officer, decided conditions were unsafe to enter the small port, which has a narrow-channel access, Navy officials said yesterday.

As the Los Angeles-class fast-attack sub was reversing course, a "red sounding" from the fathometer indicated shallow water under the hull, the Navy said. The submarine is based at Pearl Harbor.

Although no apparent damage was noted, Bogdan decided to sail to Guam to conduct a visual inspection, where divers from the submarine tender USS Frank Cable found minor damage to the rudder and the outboard motor fairing, the Navy said.

Lt. Cmdr. Kelly Merrell, a spokeswoman for Pacific Fleet submarine force, said there were no injuries and no reduction to the ship's system capabilities.

An investigation by Submarine Group Seven in Yokusuka, Japan, is under way. The investigation will examine such factors as the ship's piloting and chart accuracy.

Merrell said it is unclear whether the submarine, which displaces 6,900 tons, came into contact with something else.

"That's one of the options we will look at," she said. "Right now, we just don't know what happened."

Merrell said it could be "a day or two" before the Navy has more definitive answers.

The Greeneville, which left Pearl Harbor Aug. 15 for a six-month deployment to the Western Pacific, rammed the Japanese fishery training ship Ehime Maru Feb. 9 off Diamond Head, leaving nine Japanese men and boys dead. The Greeneville required $2 million in repairs after the accident.

Navy contractors may attempt today to run cable under the Ehime Maru so it can be towed from a depth of 2,000 feet to shallow water off Honolulu International Airport's reef runway.