Submarine Mishap Worse Than First Reported

According to email messages written by Rear Adm. Paul F. Sullivan, Commander of Submarine Forces Pacific, the USS San Francisco hit an uncharted undersea mountain "incredibly hard" and, contrary to a previously reported 23, about 60 crew members were injured. The submarine was traveling at high speed when it hit, sustaining significant bow damage which caused flooding in the sonar dome and ballast tanks.

Navy officials said the San Francisco was traveling at 30 knots when it careened off some part of the undersea mountain range. In one of the e-mail messages, Admiral Sullivan wrote that on impact, the vessel made a "nearly instantaneous deacceleration" [sic] to about 4 knots.

Buoyancy was subsequently maintained by continuously pushing air into the ballast tanks. The engineering spaces, including the reactor and propulsion plants, were unaffected.

Somebody has to ask the question of how the chart makers could neglect to find an entire undersea mountain range.

Companion post at Backcountry Conservative.