Ships that go bump in the night

[edschweppe]

A new press release from COMFIFTHFLT/COMNAVCENT confirms just how nasty last week's collision between USS Hartford (SSN 768) and USS New Orleans (LPD-18) was:

While overall damage to both ships is being evaluated, investigators believe Hartford rolled approximately 85 degrees during the collision.

Despite the roll, engineering investigations have confirmed the propulsion plant of the submarine was unaffected by this collision.

However, Hartford sustained damage to its sail and periscope, as well as the port bow plane.

New Orleans suffered a ruptured fuel tank. Divers have determined the resulting hole is approximately 16 by 18 feet in size. There was also interior damage to two ballast tanks.

They build those boats tough, folks. It's one thing to roll a kayak or a Sunfish-type sailboat over on its side; it's another thing entirely to roll seven thousand tons of submarine.

Even though the gator freighter [1] suffered the big hole in the hull, I suspect that her repairs will be quicker and easier than those for the sub. Presumably, the Navy has access to the drydock facilities in Bahrain (some of which are sized for supertankers), and cutting new hull plates is relatively straightforward when the plates in question are quarter-inch mild steel. I'd be rather surprised if anybody in Bahrain knows how to properly weld the very specialized, high-tensile-strength steel used for 688-class submarine hulls.

No word yet on why this happened, although there are a couple of official investigations mentioned later in the press release. At this point, my best SWAG [2] is that Hartford was trying to keep astern of New Orleans. New Orleans suddenly reduced speed and turned hard to port - perhaps her bridge crew saw a fishing boat or some such dead ahead, and they were trying to avoid a collision. Hartford didn't pick up on the maneuver in time and got smacked by New Orleans' hull.

[1] Slang for an amphibious assault ship, such as the New Orleans. LPDs such as New Orleans have a well deck which can be flooded to allow Marine amphibious assault vehicles to swim out and hit the beach.
[2] Stupid, Wild-Ass Guess

Comments

[wcg.livejournal.com]

An 85 degree roll is pretty extreme. I've been aboard an LST in heavy seas that rolled 30 degrees and I thought the damn thing was going all the way over.

I would guess the New Orleans will either have to fly in some techs to repair the hull or they'll bring her back to the US on the surface.

[edschweppe.livejournal.com]

We did some 45 degree snap rolls during sea trials. Those were pretty damn impressive - especially since nobody warned the mess cooks beforehand. They'd just set up the mess decks for breakfast, including a full set of condiments at each table. The condiment trays weren't equipped with any sort of hold-down mechanism, so when we pulled the first snap roll, everything slid off the tables and smashed onto the deck. Then we did several more snap rolls and this unholy combination of honey, ketchup, fake maple syrup, Worcestershire sauce and Tabasco sauce sloshed from one side of Crew's Mess to the other.

I hope that that Hartford will be able to make a normal transit back Stateside. That hull form isn't very well suited to crossing the North Atlantic on the surface; if they have to do a surface transit, they're going to see a lot of thirty-degree-plus rolls.

(New Orleans is the gator freighter, so she'd better stay on the surface.)

[bobmage.livejournal.com]

Too bad the New Orleans doesn't have a bigger well deck - she could carry the Hartford home :P

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

Ouch.

I have been on a couple of submarines, just WWII-era pig-boats. 85 degrees would leave you walking on the walls (wrong term, I know, but I'm not researching a book here), which were full of Stuff. Stuff with hard and occasionally sharp edges.