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Deadly Collision From Below

Two civilians at helm of sub that sank Japanese fishing boat

By Jean Christensen/AP

Two civilian guests were seated at controls of the USS Greeneville when the submarine surfaced and sank a Japanese fishing vessel off the Hawaiian coast, a Navy spokesman said Tuesday.

“There were two civilians at two separate watch stations under the very close supervision of a qualified watch stander,” said Lt. Cmdr. Conrad Chun, a Pacific Fleet spokesman.

He declined to identify which stations were involved, but said they could include the helm, sonar or the ballast control. The Navy has refused to identify who was aboard, but Chun said the 16 civilians included local business leaders.

A defense official in Washington said one of the civilians was at the helm. However, there is no indication the civilian played any role in Friday’s collision, said the official, who is familiar with the investigation and spoke only on condition of anonymity.

Rescued seamen of the Japanese fishing boat Ehime Maru sit in the stern of the Coast Guard Cutter as the vessel brings them to shoreon Feb. 9. Photo by Associated Press.

A Pentagon spokesman, Rear Adm. Craig Quigley, said no information about the circumstances at the time of the accident would be released until the Navy has completed its investigation.

The Pentagon said it has not given up searching for nine people missing from the Japanese vessel, a 190-foot ship owned by Uwajima Fisheries High School in southwestern Japan. Twenty-six people were rescued at sea an hour after the Ehime Maru was rammed by the 360-foot submarine and sank in 1,800 feet of water.

The Greeneville was conducting a drill in which the submarine dives to about 400 feet and then makes a rapid ascent – known as an “emergency main ballast blow.”

The sub commander usually ensures that nothing is in the way before rocketing to the surface, but the Greeneville somehow failed to detect the presence of the fishing vessel.

The Navy takes civilians aboard its ships and submarines as a means of promoting its service, educating civilians about the Navy and to accommodate journalist’s requests.

Chun said it was routine for civilians to be allowed at the controls under close supervision.

“The guy’s right over their shoulder,” he said. “The guy’s right there.”

He would not say whether such situations are normal when a submarine is conducting an emergency drill. Another Navy spokesman, Cmdr. Greg Smith, said any civilian at a control position would have a qualified helmsman beside him or her in case something went wrong.

The National Transportation Safety Board also is investigating.

NTSB member John Hammerschmidt, who is leading the investigation here, said he only learned civilians were involved from news reports after investigators toured the sub Tuesday.

The news angered one of the crewmen of the sunken vessel.

“A civilian wouldn’t know what to do [at the controls],” said Ryoichi Miya, first mate of the Ehime Maru.

“I don’t know if the emergency surfacing was a drill or what, but it’s absolutely unforgivable if a civilian was operating it,” he said, his voice rising in anger.

Japan has asked the United States to salvage the sunken boat. The U.S. Navy has sent a submersible underwater device equipped with sonar and video cameras to investigate the wreck and see if that was possible.

As the search area grew to more than 12,00 square miles, an area the size of Maryland, President Bush telephoned Japan’s prime minister, Yoshiro Mori, to express condolences for the collision and the apparent loss of life.

“He asked me to do everything I could” to locate the nine Japanese still missing, Bush said, “which we are doing.”

Bush suggested that he was not ready to order the raising of the sunken boat. “We haven’t ascertained all the facts yet,” he said.