Halibut Hangar

Originally Published March 20, 2009; Last Updated and Republished November 18, 2009:

Earlier today the Los Angeles-class submarine USS Hartford SSN 768, home port Groton, Connecticut deployed in the Strait of Hormuz collided with the surface vessel USS New Orleans, home port San Diego, California. Current reporting gives no indication of any breach in: radioactivity containment; or the submarine's water or weapons integrity; the health of 15 submariners was temporarily injured—all have returned to duty. No health injuries were reported aboard the San Antonio-class USS New Orleans.

Click for Encarta Map

The USS Hartford SSN 768 is under its own power, propulsion, and navigation.

Web:

• UPDATED 11/23/2009 StrategyPage, Collisions And The Curse Of The 1930s. Interesting post relating submariner retention, war, and a "relaxed" command.

• UPDATED 11/18/2009 NavyTimes, Report: Lax leadership led to Hormuz collision. Includes a link to the released report—scroll to the bottom.

  The Navy's conclusion of appalling complacency, lack of vigilance, and inadequate professionalism on the part of some crewmembers is certainly on display in the unredacted findings of fact paragraphs.

  However the unredacted paragraphs from an almost totally redacted report; a summary conclusion that removal of any one of thirty failure nodes would have prevented the accident; and a statement that all submarine senors were functioning properly are insufficient to understand the proximate cause of this costly (in dollar terms; fortunately this time there was no loss of sailors) accident.

• UPDATED 11/18/2009 PI, Navy finds lax behavior aboard sub in collision.

• UPDATED 10/28/2009 NavTimes, Admiral: Complacency caused sub collision.

  Today, speaking at the 27^th Naval Submarine League Symposium 2009, Vice Admiral John "Jay" Donnelly, commander submarine force, referred to crew complacency onboard the USS Hartford prior to its collision in the Strait of Hormuz.

  The specific collision timeline and details are awaiting publication of the Navy's final report(s).

  As an aside the USS Hartford has begun collecting post collision attaboys—recently commended for 1000 continuous days without any crewmember arrests for driving under the influence.

  Balanced drinking habits are a significant challenge for many of our submariners, novice and experienced. Drinking is strictly prohibited onboard our submarines, which is not to say the submarine captain would be unable to locate a small secure stash of alcohol for an "off-report" controlled celebration of a special event or occasion (e.g. a 21^st birthday, announced birth, a very special or unique accomplishment etc.).

• UPDATED 05/22/2009 NavMil, USS Hartford Returns to Homeport.

  "Two formal investigations have been completed; a Safety Investigation and a Judge Advocate General Manual (JAGMAN) Investigation."

  Presumably, after the reports finish their two month final review (endorsement) both will be publicly released.

• UPDATED 05/21/2009 Flickr Photo, Damaged USS Hartford On May 21, 2009. Arriving at its home port Groton, Connecticut—tug boat is assisting the submarine maneuver up the Thames River.

  Repairs are expected to be complete by October 2009.

• UPDATED 04/27/2009 NavyTimes, Damaged sub crossing ocean, amphib in dry dock.
  • NavyMil, USS New Orleans Enters Dry Dock.

  The USS Hartford's new commander (and temporary transit COB) sail the submarine on the surface (can you say rock and roll—but not 85o rolls), back to its home port of Groton, Connecticut. It will undergo extensive repairs and further analysis at the General Dynamics, Electric Boat shipyard. Nothing interesting from the starboard side picture of the New Orleans' hull showing the divers' conformal cut around the impact area. Hopefully pictures of the New Orleans impact area will be made publicly available, soon.

  USS Hartford Heading Home4

• UPDATED 04/14/2009 NavyMil, USS Hartford Commanding Officer Relieved. Rear Admiral Michael J. Connor has replaced the USS Hartford sub-driver, citing the standard reason of lose of confidence in leadership—Commander Ryan Brookhart outgoing and Commander Chris Harkins incoming.

• UPDATED 03/27/2009 NavyMil, USS Hartford, USS New Orleans Undergo Extensive Assessments. Both Safety Board and Judge Advocate General Manual (JAGMAN) Investigations are underway.

  A preliminary assessment indicate the initial impact³ may have rolled (rotation about the fwd-aft or surge axis) the Hartford to starboard a whopping 85^o—that'll spill your "midrats" soup and piss-off the pastry chef!

NavyMil, USS Hartford - Three Hi-Res Photo The Hartford's sail is sheared from the superstructure and bent port to starboard. Impact Forces (Space Reserved) (Space Reserved) (Space Reserved)

UPDATED 03/23/2009 NavyMil, USS Hartford and USS New Orleans Arrive In Port Bahrain. It appears Hartford was snorkeling (aka snorting) when it collided with the New Orleans. (see comments) The buckled sail prevents the lowering of the snorkel antenna2 by normal means. UPDATED 03/21/2009 Reuters, Navy vessels damaged in Strait of Hormuz collision. Hartford at Bahrain port of Mina Salman undergoing damage assessment.

• UPDATED 03/21/2009 NavyTimes, Navy vessels damaged in Strait of Hormuz collision.

  
  Bathymetry Strait of Hormuz¹

• UPDATED Hartford Courant, USS Hartford Damaged In Early-morning Collision. Adds: USS Hartford ran aground in 2003 damaging sonar and rudder.

• UPDATED ABC News, US Navy: 2 Vessels Collide in Strait of Hormuz. The USS Hartford's sail may have struck the USS New Orleans below the waterline while sailing a closing parallel bearing?

  The USS New Orleans spilled 25K of fuel oil.

  Local Time Zone is Zulu/UTC/GMT plus three hours or EST plus eight hours. (see U.S. time site (requires java) and The World Clock - Time Zones)

• Reuters, Atomic-powered U.S. submarine in collision in Strait of Hormuz
• CNN, U.S. Navy vessels collide near Iran

Blog:

• UPDATED 03/22/2009 Strategy Page, Collision Alley

YouTube:

• Updated Report of Collision by DoD (March 23, 2009):

• Initial Report of Collision by DoD (March 20, 2009):

-----notes-----

1. UPDATED 03/21/2009 (a) Those interested in following the technical aspect of the collision's cause through the investigation might find it helpful to read some on water: temperature; density; and salinity as they effect propagation of sound waves (at 20C^o|68F^o sound travels through air and water at 334 and 1,500 meters per second, respectively).

A submarine's passive and active sonar are its ears and eyes—shipping channels are by definition busy (collision occurred at 1am local time) and thus noisy—something like trying to hear and understand your friend at a baseball game or rock concert).

The salinity in the Strait of Hormuz this time of year can range between 36 - 37 percent psu or greater depending on the submarine's location and depth. Generally water temperature decreases with depth which may not be the case with salinity concentration. (M. Sadrinasab and K. Kenarkohi modeled time-series Persian Gulf seasonal average ranges for water temperature at 20-24 C^o and salinity at 38.8-39.2 psu (practical salinity unit); Three-Dimensional Numeric Modelling [sic] Study of Sound Speed in the Persian Gulf).

Because salinity effects water density for a given water temperature it effects a submarine's buoyancy, too. A submarine can suddenly "sink like a rock" or "rise like a helium filled balloon" simply by sailing through a pocket of decreased or increased salinity—convince yourself why (hint: why does a helium balloon rise in air?).

Surface wave height can be a factor, but in the Strait of Hormuz this time of year wave height is only between 0-2 feet.

(b) Those interested in the strategic aspects of the Strait of Hormuz will find the below recent doctoral dissertation a helpful starting point.

Caitlin Talmadge, Closing Time: Assessing the Iranian Threat to the Strait of Hormuz, International Security, Vol. 33, No. 1 (Summer 2008), pp. 82–117 (also, see rebuttal by William D. O’Neil How Great a Concern)

Quick Reuters FACTBOX-The Strait of Hormuz, Iran and the risk to oil

2. UPDATED 03/24/2009 An upgraded communications antenna supporting very high frequency (VHF), ultra high frequency (UHF), identification friend or foe (IFF), global positioning (GPS), and demand assigned multiple access (DAMA). See FAS, Submarine Communication Circuits for detailed bands and equipment; Hangar's, Submarine Terminology->Page17->Spectrum, Submarine Communications for a simplified list of frequencies used for submarine communications.

The communications antenna suite has undergone continuous improvement upgrades, evolving into the universal modular mast (UMM) OE-538/BRC on the new Virginia-class submarine providing a variety of improved integrated electronic support measures (ESM).

Improved ESM "back-fitting" into the Los Angeles-class submarines is an option.

3. UPDATED 03/29/2009 Not enough data are yet publicly available to begin estimating the collision forces.

A Los Angeles-class submarine is made of HY-80 steel, including the sheared and fractured portion at the base of the Hartford's sail. HY-80 has been used for several decades in submarine construction (replaced by HY-100 and HY-130)—most of its properties are understood, but the metal is still studied:

• Yield Strength minimum 80 ksi
• Density (lb / cu. in.) 0.28
• Specific Gravity 7.83
• Specific Heat (Btu/lb/Deg F - 0.11 [32-212 Deg F])
• Melting Point (Deg F) 2595
• Thermal Conductivity 264
• Mean Coeff Thermal Expansion 6.3
• Modulus of Elasticity Tension 29
• Modulus of Elasticity Torsion 12

A roll of 85^o and the fracture at the base of the sail imply a significant force, at least initially along the sway axis in the starboard direction.

But initial news accounts say both vessels were traveling the same direction—parallel surge axes.

One hypothesis has the Hartford surfacing on a near level bubble striking the New Orleans keel with its forward-port sail and sliding up the side of the New Orleans as it rolled to starboard?

Hartford's forward (fwd) sail is covered and pictures of the gash or hole in the New Orleans' keel have yet to be publicly released. It's not apparent how parallel surge axes on Hartford surfacing hypothesis would roll the Hartford 85^o or cause the massive sail fracture?

However, if the Hartford was vectoring port (along the sway axis) as it surfaced (along the heave axis) maybe its port-side sail struck the New Orleans' keel and instead of sliding up it rolled and passed under the New Orleans' keel before righting itself and surfacing.

It's interesting that much of the port side sail fracture appears to be along non-weldment lines, typically not areas with the highest concentration of stress?

4. UPDATED 04/29/2009 The USS Hartford is an improved Los Angeles-class submarine—its radar mast should be at the very forward part of the sail. In fact the radar mast is located aft in the location expected on a pre-improved Los Angeles-class submarine.

The collision likely damaged the radar mast and it has been temporarily relocated to the old location?

The HDR antenna is actually a pizza size dish antenna covered by a dome. It provides high data rate (HDR) satellite communication at extremely high and super high frequencies. It also supports the Global Broadcast Service (GBS) enabling the submarine to access military network and Internet digital data.

The HDR antenna is a key component in the Navy's evolving vision of ubiquitous network centric platform communications.