USS Greeneville (SSN-772)
_Guam.jpg) Greeneville 2007 in Apra Harbor, Guam |
|
| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Order | December 14, 1988 |
| Keel laying | April 16, 1992 |
| Launch | 17th September 1994 |
| 1. Period of service |
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|
| Commissioning | February 16, 1996 |
| Technical specifications | |
| displacement |
6300 tons surfaced, 7100 tons submerged |
| length |
110.3 m |
| width |
10 m |
| Draft |
9.7 m |
| Diving depth | approx. 300 m |
| crew |
12 officers, 115 men |
| drive |
An S6G reactor |
| speed |
30+ knots |
| Armament |
4 533 mm torpedo tubes , 12 VLS tubes |
The USS Greeneville (SSN-772) is a nuclear-powered submarine of the United States Navy and is part of the Los Angeles-class submarine to. The Greeneville was made in 1996 as a penultimate unit of its class in service and is in Pearl Harbor on Hawaii stationed. During a simulated emergency surfacing in 2001, she rammed the fishing school ship Ehime Maru , which sank in the collision and killed 9 Japanese.
Name, insignia and motto of the boat
The USS Greeneville was named after the town of Greeneville , Tennessee , a town of only 15,000 and the smallest town that a submarine was named after.
This goes back to an initiative of Greeneville Metal Manufacturing , a company that also makes submarine parts. From this company an initiative started ( USS GREENEVILLE Committee ), which wanted to enforce the naming of a submarine after the city. In addition to the mayor, local companies and educational institutions were also involved in this campaign, ultimately even a twelve-person delegation flew to Washington, DC , where they met senators, but also employees of the Secretary of the Navy and President George HW Bush to convince them of their idea. Eventually the group succeeded, on December 12, 1989 - more than two years before the keel was laid - Secretary of the Navy Henry L. Garrett III announced that SSN-772 would be named USS Greeneville .
The Greenville insignia shows a submarine in the Tennessee River with the Appalachians behind it . Two crossed rifles can be seen in the foreground. The logo is framed by the lettering USS Greeneville and the boat's motto, Volunteers Defending Frontiers (German: volunteers defend the borders ). This motto is based on the official nickname of the state of Tennessee, Volunteer State .
technology
As a Los Angeles-class unit , the 110-meter-long and 10-meter-wide Greeneville is capable of reaching speeds of over 30 knots underwater. It is propelled by a single seven-bladed screw; Around 35,000 PS, which are generated by a pressurized water reactor, act via a wave .
The Greeneville belongs to Flight III , the third modification stage of the Los Angeles class. Therefore, the depth rudders are no longer on the tower , as in earlier boats of the class, but directly in front of the tower on the hull and can be retracted to make it easier to descend through surface ice.
The boat has four bow torpedo tubes through which Mark 48 heavyweight torpedoes , but also UGM-84 Harpoon and UGM-109F Tomahawk missiles and mines can be ejected. There are also twelve vertical launch tubes for Tomahawk cruise missiles in front of the tower , but these cannot be reloaded while the vehicle is in motion.
history
Construction and test drives
The Greeneville was ordered on December 14, 1988 from Newport News Shipbuilding as the 61st and penultimate unit of the Los Angeles class for $ 900 million. The keel was laid on April 16, 1992, the launch on December 17, 1994. The Greeneville was christened by Tipper Gore, wife of Al Gore . The commissioning with the US Navy took place on February 16, 1996, its first commanding officer was Duane B. Hatch. She was stationed at Naval Station Norfolk .
The mandatory functional tests were conducted off the east coast of the United States from February to July 1996 . This was followed by a layover period from August to February 1997, during which the noise insulation and the reliability of the technology on board were improved. In addition, the boat was retrofitted for the transport of deep-sea rescue diving boats , the Advanced SEAL Delivery System (a submersible for the covert use of SEALs ) and the Dry Deck Shelter . Then the Greeneville was relocated to Pearl Harbor on Oahu ( Hawaii ).
First mission
The Greeneville's first mission from Pearl Harbor began on July 22, 1998 and lasted until January 22, 1999. The voyage led into the western Pacific Ocean. During this time the Greeneville visited the cities of Sasebo and Yokosuka in Japan and the island of Guam .
The Ehime Maru accident
On February 9, 2001, 9 nautical miles (nm) from Diamond Head on the Hawaiian island of Oahu, a dive took place on board with selected civilians, including several directors of various armaments companies. A so-called emergency surfacing was also practiced, in which all compressed air on board is pumped into the ballast tanks. In addition, the propeller drive is set to "Extreme Power", with which a Los Angeles class boat can travel about 35 knots horizontally, so that it shoots up steeply and breaks through the water surface at high speed at an angle of 45 °. The speed here is - vectorially - greater than the 35 knots that can be achieved with horizontal travel, as the blowing out of the tanks creates a strong buoyancy force that drives the submarine upwards.
During this maneuver, two of the civilians were at the controls of the boat. Around 1:38 p.m. local time ( Hawaii-Aleutian Standard Time ) the boat spent a good 1:30 minutes at periscope depth (approx. 60-70 feet) according to the recordings of the instruments, which were evaluated by the NTSB , then dived in just under 2 : Descended to 405 feet (123 meters) for 30 minutes and changed course to port, from 120 ° to 20 °. Then the emergency surfacing began, which took a good minute.
At around 1:50 p.m. local time, the stern of the Greeneville crashed into the aft port side of the Ehime Maru , a Japanese fishing training ship. The upper part of the rudder slit the ship and opened the engine room to the sea. Due to the strong water ingress, the Ehime Maru sank in less than ten minutes; nine crew members of the training ship, including four students, were killed and 26 others were rescued by the US Coast Guard .
The wreck was found eight days later at a depth of 610 meters. In October 2001, the wreck was lifted by two companies ( Smit International and Crowley Maritime Corp. ) on behalf of the US Navy and towed closer to the island of Oahu, where it was set down again at a depth of 35 meters. In the following 29 days, Japanese and American divers performed a total of 534 dives and, in addition to personal items, the name tag, the ship's bell and the rudder, also found eight of the nine bodies.
On November 25th, the Ehime Maru was finally raised one last time and sunk in 2600 meters deep water in the presence of three members of the former crew. The entire operation cost about $ 60 million.
The commander of the Greeneville , Cmdr. Scott Waddle, took full responsibility for the accident. He received a reprimand, but a military trial was waived, so that Waddle could honorably resign from the Navy with full pension claims. In March, he apologized in writing to the bereaved, politicians and school officials. Waddle wrote a book about his experiences, The right Thing (dt. The right thing ), in which he describes himself as a good Christian who has faced the agony, rather than to commit suicide.
A memorial for the Ehime Maru and their dead was erected on Oahu in Honolulu .
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The USS Greeneville suffered only minor damage, but had to go to the dry dock of the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard to have any damage to the rudder and amidships at the height of the tower repaired. She stayed there until the beginning of April 2001; Later in the month she made several test drives and refresher drives. The repair cost approximately $ 2 million.
A committee of inquiry that was set up came to the conclusion that both the sonar search and a search with the periscope had not been carried out carefully enough, and that the civilians on board were said to have disrupted communications between the crew members.
Running out of Saipan
The first deployment after the accident began in August 2001. The Greeneville went under her new commander, Cmdr. David Bogan, on a routine mission to the Western Pacific ( WESTPAC ).
During this voyage, another accident occurred when the Greeneville ran aground on August 27th. The boat was supposed to enter the port of Saipan for a visit . However, the journey was canceled due to rough seas. During the turning maneuver necessary for this, the stern scraped over the reefs near the port entrance. The underside of the hull and the rudder were slightly damaged. The Greeneville then drove on the surface to Guam, where marine divers of a submarine tender examined the damage, but could not find any serious damage. The cost of the repairs was a good $ 120,000.
This was followed by a formal investigation into the incident on September 11, led by Rear Admiral Joseph E. Enright. The investigation report found the use of outdated nautical charts that had not been updated manually enough. The misinterpretation of the nautical signs mentioned in the report, which, according to the lateral system, laterally marked the shipping route to the port, was obviously particularly fatal . This miscalculation resulted probably from the fact that the American coasts to IALA -B system is used, while in the western Pacific, the IALA-A system is mostly common. So it came about that a course was set and approved that led the submarine outside the marked fairway, where it came to ground. According to the report, the crew undertook all of this without attempting to seek the help of a port pilot. On September 12, the disciplinary commission Rear Admiral Joseph E. Enrights ( Admiral's Mast ) reprimanded all officers involved for endangering the ship. As a result of the investigation, David Bogan was removed from his command by Rear Admiral John B. Padgett III.
Collision with the USS Ogden
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The next deployment of the Greeneville took place from the end of 2001 and envisaged operations for the submarine as escort for the USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD-6) as part of Operation Enduring Freedom . Only six months after the incident off Saipan, on January 27, 2002, the Greeneville collided with the USS Ogden (LPD-5) 40 nm off the coast of Oman during a personnel transfer . The weather during the operation was described as windy. Two sailors whose families had died were supposed to leave the Greeneville and return to the United States. Before the transfer could take place, the two ships touched each other, with the stern rudder cross of the Greeneville colliding with the outer skin of the Ogden . One of the Ogden's fuel tanks was torn open and several thousand liters of diesel fuel ran through the 13 cm × 46 cm hole into the sea. Both ships were able to leave the site of the accident on their own, however, there were no injuries.
The damage to the Greeneville was later repaired in Diego Garcia . The cost was around $ 200,000. The commandant, Cmdr. Lee Hankins, the Greeneville commanded since October 22, was reprimanded, retained his command but. In contrast, the Ogden's commander , Cmdr. William Edwards, relieved of his command.
The Greeneville as part of an Expeditionary Strike Group
With regard to the regular replacement of Hankins in July 2004 when Cmdr. Lorin Selby took over the boat, said the Commodore of Submarine Squadron One , of which the Greeneville belongs, Capt. Cecil Haney:
"The performance of USS Greeneville during Capt. Hankins' tour has been nothing but remarkable. It has been marked by top grades in both tactical and engineering readiness. "
“The accomplishments of the USS Greeneville during Captain Hankin's tour are remarkable. The time was marked by the best marks in both tactical and technical readiness. "
Both during the time under Hankins and later under Selby, the Greeneville was the first submarine in such a unit to exercise its role in Expeditionary Strike Group One, which serves as a rapid reaction force in times of the war on terrorism . (Quote from Cmdr. Harkin: We are a 9-1-1 force , German: We are the 911 rapid reaction force (emergency call in the USA))
The first deployment with ESG 1 began at the end of August 2003 and lasted six months. The flagship of the group, which consisted of a total of seven units, was the USS Peleliu . Two dropships ( USS Germantown and USS Ogden ), a cruiser ( USS Port Royal ), a frigate ( USS Jarrett ) and a destroyer ( USS Decatur ) were also involved.
The mission lasted until March 2004, the Greeneville was awarded the Navy Unit Commendation , which is awarded in peacetime for operations that are excellently carried out compared to other units.
Later operations
At the end of 2006, the Greeneville moved to its next mission. The unspecified six-month voyage took the submarine into the command area of the 7th Fleet, i.e. the western Pacific and the Indian Ocean. Among other things, the Greeneville was in Apra Harbor on Guam for a few days for maintenance work in early 2007 . She then took part in Exercise Foal Eagle 2007 and then made a friendship visit to Jinhae , South Korea, in April .
In October 2007, the submarine left Pearl Harbor for the Atlantic Ocean for a thorough overhaul and upgrade at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery , Maine . This lasted until June 2009.
See also
Web links
- Entry in Naval Vessel Register (Engl.)
- Homepage (Engl.)
- Reports of the NTSB the end of the accident with the Ehime Maru (Engl.)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Admiral's Mast for USS Greeneville (SSN 772) crewmembers. September 2001, archived from the original on April 4, 2006 ; accessed on February 26, 2013 (English). (Report on the investigation after the runaway at Saipan)
- ↑ USS Greeneville deploys with Expeditionary Strike Group One. September 3, 2003, archived from the original on March 11, 2007 ; accessed on February 26, 2013 (English).
