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A Collision at Sea can ruin your whole day
By Richard S. Lowry
A US Navy submarine, USS Hartford SSN 768, has collided with the Amphibious Assault Ship USS New Orleans LPD-18 in the straights of Hormuz. Initial reports are that only a handful of sailors were slightly injured. New Orleans suffered a ruptured fuel tank.
USS Hartford SSN 768
In a collision between a surface ship and a submarine, the surface ship usually comes out the worse for wear. As long as the watertight integrity of the submarine is not compromised, the surface ship will sustain the most damage. Its like a sledge hammer hitting a tin can. Submarine hulls are designed to withstand hundreds of pounds of pressure per square inch, whereas, surface ship hulls are relatively thin. My guess is that New Orleans has a gaping hole in her side.
On another note, Hartford is accident prone. She ran aground in 2003.
Richard S. Lowry is the award-wining author of “The Gulf War Chronicles” and “Marines in the Garden of Eden.” He served in the U.S. Navy Submarine Service from 1967-1975 and spent the time from 1975 to 2002 designing sophisticated integrated circuits for everything from aircraft avionics to home computers. He is currently working on his next book, “New Dawn,” which will tell of the fight to free Fallujah. Visit www.marinesinthegardenofeden.com for more information.
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Comments
Ouch! That is going to leave a mark on more than a few careers!
The AP is describing the New Orleans as an "amphibious ship". Given that, it should have just crawled out of the water and gotten away from that nasty old submarine.
Ughh...a brand new ship. Just like buying a new car and getting in a wreck driving off the dealer lot. I feel sorry for both COs(or former COs). The new LPDs are beautiful ships also.
After this incident and the 2003 one, Hartford might want to change her motto :)
I don't know the origin of that classic understatement, "A collision at sea can ruin your whole day", but I do recall the first time that I saw it. It was on the fly leaf of a paperback novel, "A Departure From The Rules", that was required reading for J.O's aboard USS Wedderburn (DD-684)in 1961. I have long since forgotten the final outcome of that fictionalized account of a carrier/destroyer collision during flight ops screen reorientation, but I do remember it as a classic example of John Paul Jones' requirement of Naval Officers that they "distinguish well meant shortcoming from heedless and stupid blunder".
For Tom Hill,
The classic understatement "A collision at sea can ruin your whole day" is attributed to Thucydides, 460BC to 395BC. He was a Greek Historian.
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I just have to wonder if the New Orleans has powerful enough screws for the Venturi effect to have been a factor, such as was the case with the USS Newport News in 2007. Either way, somebody's career is done.