USS San Francisco Skipper Reassigned Pending Probe Results

By ROBERT A. HAMILTON

Day Staff Writer, Navy/Defense/Electric Boat

Published on 1/21/2005

The head of the U.S. Seventh Fleet on Thursday reassigned the skipper of the Guam-based USS San Francisco to a shore job, pending the results of an investigation into how the submarine smashed into a seamount on Jan. 8.

A Navy spokesman said Vice Adm. Jonathan W. Greenert has assigned Cmdr. Kevin Mooney to Submarine Squadron 15 in Guam. The accident killed one crewman and injured almost half of the crew of 137.

Cmdr. Andrew Hale, the deputy commander of Squadron 15, will assume command of the San Francisco indefinitely. The Seventh Fleet spokesman was unavailable for further comment.

"This is an administrative action, and it should not be considered administrative punishment," said Cmdr. Ike Skelton, Greenert's spokesman. "Commander Mooney was reassigned."

Navy sources said because Greenert did not announce that he was relieving Mooney, and did not announce that the decision was "for cause" or because he had lost confidence in Mooney's ability to command, it does not necessarily mean Mooney is being faulted in the case.

In fact, there are a few reasons for Greenert to take the action, chief among them that Mooney will be consumed with the investigation, and will not have the time he would need to be responsible for the San Francisco and its crew.

In addition, the sources said, Greenert likely wants to make sure there is no perception that Mooney has attempted to influence the investigation, which will include extensive interviews with his crew and an exhaustive review of the ship's logs and other records.

San Francisco was cruising at more than 30 knots at a depth of about 525 feet on Jan. 8 when it slammed into a seamount that did not appear on its official charts, although it was later determined that a government mapping agency knew of the obstacle more than five years ago.

The devastating collision nearly crippled the ship, but the crew brought it to the surface safely and managed to limp back to Guam at a maximum speed of eight knots. The boat's sonar dome was smashed and three of its four forward ballast tanks were cracked in the crash.

Lt. Cmdr. Jeff A. Davis, a spokesman for the Pacific submarine force, said the Navy is seeking to re-certify one of its former floating drydocks for nuclear submarine work, to allow the San Francisco to be lifted out of the water for an engineering assessment.

The drydock, known in Guam as "Big Blue" because of its size and color, is 883 feet long, 180 feet wide and can lift up to 40,000 tons. It went into private service with Guam Shipyard in 1999.

"It was nuclear certified when it was a Navy drydock, but that certification is lapsed," Davis said. "We're looking at getting it re-certified as quickly as possible, and making all arrangements to get San Francisco in there as soon as it is certified."

Davis said if San Francisco goes into the drydock, the plan now is only to gauge the damage to the ship. No decision has been made on where or even whether the ship will eventually be repaired.

"We need to get it out of the water, do a thorough engineering assessment, and at that point determine exactly where and how the repairs will be done," Davis said.

"We have a very rudimentary understanding of the fact that there is significant damage to the bow, including the sonar bow, the sonar sphere and the ballast tanks. The pressure hull appears to be undamaged, and all the systems inside the pressure hull appear to be undamaged for the most part, and functioned effectively, which is what allowed the submarine to return to its homeport following the collision."