US Nuclear Sub Crashes Into US Navy Amphibious Vessel

Kugrian writes "Showing that it's not just the British and the French who have trouble seeing each other on the high seas, a US Nuclear submarine yesterday crashed into a US Navy heavy cruiser. The USS Hartford, a nuclear-powered attack submarine, was submerged as it crashed into the USS New Orleans in the strait of Hormuz, resulting in the spillage of 95,000 litres of diesel fuel. Both vessels were heading in the same direction when the collision occurred in the narrow strait and were subsequently heading to port for repairs. A spokesman for the 5th Fleet said that the USS Hartford suffered no damage to its nuclear propulsion system." According to the USS New Orleans' Wikipedia page, it's actually an amphibious transport dock.

Oh sure...

[iocat]

This is the cover story, but what *really* happened?

Re:Oh sure...

[Joolz50]

The navigator was constantly refreshing /. trying to get first post

Why so negative.

[rackserverdeals]

You guys are so negative.

The headline should be "US Navy perfects underwater stealth technology."

Oh comon...

[XPeter]

Am I the only one who smells something fishy? Million dollar machines crashing into eachother? For the second time in a month? Somethings up.

Re:Probably not the sub's fault

[cbrocious]

Erm, what? The USS New Orleans only had 2600 deficiencies when inspected: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_New_Orleans_(LPD-18) [wikipedia.org]. Learn to read your own links.

Re:Oh sure...

[narcberry]

It sounds serious, I mean 95,000 gallons of oil spilled into the ocean.

Oh wait, it was litres? Oh well that's like monopoly oil, we'll be alright.

Passing in the Night

[thethibs]

This reminds me of an old story:

Radio conversation released by the Chief of Naval Operations 10.10.95

Americans: Please divert your course 15 degrees to the north to avoid a collision.
Canadians: Recommend you divert YOUR course 15 degrees to the south to avoid a collision.
Americans: This is the captain of a U.S. Navy ship. I say again: divert your course.
Canadians: No. I say again: divert YOUR course.
Americans: THIS IS THE USS MISSOURI. WE ARE A LARGE WARSHIP OF THE US NAVY. DIVERT YOUR COURSE NOW!
Canadians: This is a lighthouse. Your call.

Re:they weren't the only ones asleep at the switch

[oldhack]

"usually Slashdot is pretty quick to get the news but his happened yesterday folks"

That was true back when slashdot was in paper edition, but since they switched to this new-fangled website thingy, it just haven't been the same.

One day, my lawn will have a real grass instead of this painted-over green dirt.

Re:Oh sure...

[PhrostyMcByte]

The captains were trying to re-enact the Battlestar finale.

Re:Oh sure...

[MrKaos]

This is the cover story, but what *really* happened?

They were re-charging their di-lithium crystals from the nuclear wessel so they could save the whales.

Re:Why so negative.

[Ethanol-fueled]

I hope you understand that there are things Sailors can't talk about

What goes on in the fan rooms, for example ;)

Re:Oh sure...

[shogun]

I'm guessing the above should probably be modded -1 (Spoiler).

Re:Probably not the sub's fault

[Shakrai]

Last I checked, in the English language, at least, when we say "a million", we usually don't mean a literal million. That's what "one million" is for. "A million" tends to just mean "a hell of a lot".

That sound you are hearing is the noise of a million whooshes flying right over your head ;)

wink wink; nudge nudge; say no more, say no more

[Scrameustache]

I hope you understand that there are things Sailors can't talk about

We won't ask, and you won't tell.

An aside:

[mblase]

Because the surface ship is expected to not see the boat.

Rosencranz: "I've frequently not seen the boat."
Guildenstern: "No, no. What you've seen is not the boat."

Re:Why so negative.

[Dachannien]

Reports from the sub indicate an 82 degree roll was taken at the time of impact.

Now that's what I call a waste of perfectly good coffee!

Re:Why so negative.

[bitrex]

Everybody knows that the keys to successful submarine navigation - first you activate the passive sonar on the hull, then you deploy the towed array, and then you watch the waterfall display and try to figure out which one of the tracks is the true bearing and which is the false bearing, then you gotta play around with the Fourier transform of the screw noises on the other display and fiddle with it a bit because the computer is alternately suggesting that the contact is either a fishing trawler, a supertanker, the USS Ronald Reagan, or an Udaloy class destroyer, and where ARE those active sonar pings coming from? And then you get frustrated, hit "Display All Real" from the tactical map screen and discover you've frantically fired five torpedoes and a cruise missile at an active sonar buoy dropped from a low-flying plane an hour ago.

Re:Oh sure...

[dgatwood]

I can't believe Gaius Baltar is Admiral Adama's father!

Sorry. It had to be done. :-D

Re:Why so negative.

[Runaway1956]

A Chief Petty Officer aboard any destroyer will NOT spill one drop of his coffee, even when the ship executes a 360 degree roll. If he did, he would be banished to a carrier.

Re:Overtaking vessel gives way

[Max_W]

If there was a fog at that time being on the bridge does not influence much. What is needed is a radar or emitting good old 4 seconds horn sound every minute.

On a boat which costs 1,000,000,000 could be a radar with alarm which costs about 750. I am sure there were more radar systems on them than one.

I cannot imagine why these boats could collide at all. I guess it was a virus or trojan in the Win32 NT Military Edition system or it was overwhelmed by spam.

As military ships are becoming more and more like floating computers, the malware and spam are turning into ominous issues.

Re:wink wink; nudge nudge; say no more, say no mor

[Eighty7]

Q: What is long and hard and full of seamen?