Has anyone else been following the sinking of the Ehime Maru by the USS Greenville? As an ex-sub sonarman, some things strike me as particularly odd about the whole thing. Back on the Ustafish*, any sonar contact was reported to and acknowledged by the officer of the deck. Contacts are logged, tracked and reported on periodically. Again these periodic reports are to the OOD. This would have been particularly important if the bearing time recorder (BTR) was broken as reported. In this case, it seems like they're trying to pin some of the blame on some poor enlisted fire control guy that records contacts and works out a "fire control solution" based on information sonar gives him. In any case, it is, again, the OOD's responsibility to keep up with this information, and it's his responsibility to pass all such info on to whomever relieves him - in this case the Commanding Officer - of the "Con". The Navy keeps denying that the civilians aboard had no bearing on the accident. Horsesh*t. Anything out of the ordinary is a distraction. In this case, there were a fair number of civilians in control. The tendency (especially, dare I say) with young males is to show off for an audience. This would have been exacerbated if the guests were particularly important or (at the risk of sounding sexist) particularly female. I don't mean to imply that women shouldn't be allowed to ride, just that the guard against this kind of distraction having an effect on normal operation should be that much higher. Finally, there was no sonar supervisor. Never would have happened on the Ustafish. Especially during a high risk operation such as an emergency blow (the emergency surface discussed in the news - the water in ballast tanks is displaced with high pressure air.) Any time you come to periscope depth or during any critical operation, it is (or was) required that a minimum of two watchstanders listen for contacts and interpret visual displays. The supervisor insures proper search techniques double checks visual displays (such as BTRs), and logs and reports contacts and all information concerning them to the con. Sonar was _never_ without a supervisor when underway. If I recall correctly, you were even required to get a qualified relief just to make a head call. All things considered, it's not surprising that this kind of accident occurred. You can bet there is going to be a review of policy and procedure. *euphemism for the old boat, or the good old days. All subs used to be named after sea creatures. Doug [EMAIL PROTECTED]
