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Retired admiral The Navy said today that an initial report on the accident in which a nuclear attack submarine rammed a Japanese fishing vessel nearly a week ago could be issued as early as this weekend.
arranged civilians’
trip aboard sub
At Japan government’s
request, Coast Guard to
continue search for
nine missing
Civilian manned controls for ascent
By Gregg K. Kakesako
Star-BulletinAlso today, at the urging of the Japanese government, the Coast Guard said it would continue its search for the nine missing crewmen from the Ehime Maru. It had planned to suspend search operations today.
At the Pentagon, Rear Adm. Steve Pietropaoli said that 14 of the 16 civilians that were aboard the USS Greeneville when it collided with the Ehime Maru Friday were supporters of the USS Missouri Association, which is restoring the World War II battleship berthed at Pearl Harbor. The other was a sportswriter and his wife. Two are believed to be from Hawaii.
Don Hess, the Missouri's executive officer who also is a retired Navy officer, said, "The association had no involvement in requesting or making arrangements for any civilians to have access to the Greeneville."
He declined to release the list of his donors without receiving their permission.
Commander criticized
Meanwhile, Adm. Thomas Fargo, commander of the Pacific Fleet, does not understand why Cmdr. Scott Waddle, the Greeneville's captain, failed to realize that the 190-foot Ehime Maru was above him. Waddle has been reassigned to a desk job at Pacific Forces Submarine Command pending the outcome of the investigation. He could face criminal charges."He should have seen the ship," Fargo, who once commanded the nuclear submarine USS Salt Lake, told a closed Senate committee session yesterday. "It's hard to see how they missed it."
Pietropaoli said the purpose of the initial report is to determine what direction the Navy's investigation will take.
He also discounted reports that the 16 civilians were large contributors to the Republican Party. "That is not the purpose of our program," the Navy spokesman said. "No one can arrange visits to our Navy ships except our operational commanders. People refer them. We would be fools not to take those references. We don't ask questions about political affiliation."
The Navy also confirmed that retired Adm. Richard Macke, who was forced to resign as Pacific Forces commander in 1995 after a year on the job, was responsible for arranging the one-day orientation trip for the 16 civilians.
The Navy said last night that Macke also was supposed to be on the USS Greeneville on Friday when it left Pearl Harbor at 8 a.m. for the one-day cruise.
But Jon Yoshishige, Pacific Fleet spokesman, said Macke canceled because of "work commitments."
Macke, a former Vietnam fighter pilot, works as a senior vice president of a Virginia telecommunications company.
Meanwhile, the Navy deflected reports that the Greeneville was operating outside a training area when the accident occurred.
The Navy acknowledged that the Greeneville was about 3,000 yards east of an underwater submarine test and trial area when it surfaced underneath the Japanese vessel on Friday.
Lt. Cmdr. Conrad Chun, Pacific Fleet spokesman, said the 10-mile-by-2-mile rectangular area is meant only to serve as an advisory that submarines may be training in the area.
"That doesn't mean that submarines are restricted or assigned to that box," Chun said.
The "box" -- marked on National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration charts -- is meant to serve as an advisory to boaters that submarines are operating underwater in the area, Chun said.
Navy Capt. Tom Kyle, Pacific Fleet deputy chief of staff, said "there is no specific place to practice" maneuvers like an emergency ballast blow. "The only criterion is that the area must be safe."
On Saturday, Fargo had said the Greeneville was in a submarine operating area when it collided with the 190-foot Ehime Maru.
Names still not released
The Navy has refused to release the names of the 16 civilians since the sinking occurred Friday afternoon, citing privacy concerns. Several news organizations, including the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, have filed Freedom of Information requests asking for the list.Pietropaoli said he supported making public the list of names, but said some of the civilians requested that they not be identified.
In Washington, Rep. Neil Abercrombie, a staunch supporter of the military, called on Fargo to make public names of the civilians who were on the Greeneville. He said he does not know their identities.
"There are questions that the Navy has to answer," said the Hawaii Democrat. "I don't think it's been handled very well. I think the way you deal with these things is directly, forthrightly and fully, and I wish the Navy had handled that in that fashion."
The New York Times reported from Washington that Navy officials were reluctant to release information about Macke's involvement because of fear it would worsen a sensitive situation.
Macke, 63, lost his four-star position in 1995 when he commented on the case of three American Marines who pleaded guilty to conspiring to kidnap and rape a 12-year-old Okinawan schoolgirl. Macke apologized after saying the rape could have been avoided if the servicemen had simply paid a prostitute.
Macke is the senior vice president of Wheat International Communications Corp., a Reston, Va.-based telecommunications company. His office said today that he was on vacation. He did not return calls to his home.
The Japanese have been highly critical of Waddle for not coming to the aid of the Ehime Maru after the Greeneville hit it when it surfaced 10 miles south of Oahu. They also were upset to learn that at least two of the 16 civilians may have been at key Greeneville control stations when the accident occurred.
In Hawaii, the Navy regularly takes politicians, business and community leaders, and journalists for short trips or embarkments on its submarines and other surface vessels berthed at Pearl Harbor. The Navy said the purpose of these trips is to develop an understanding of who is in the Navy and what it can do.
Yoshishige said Macke referred the group of business leaders to Rear Adm. Albert Konetzni, commander of the Pacific Submarine Forces' public affairs office.
Cmdr. Bruce Cole, another Navy spokesman, said none of the community and business leaders was from Hawaii, nor were any of them politicians or celebrities.
However, KITV reported last night that two of the visitors were a Hawaii Kai couple, Susan and Michael Nolan. Michael Nolan helped organized a USS Missouri charity golf tournament last year.
Cole said today he still cannot confirm any of the names on the list, adding that he did not intend to say that none of the civilians were from Hawaii.
Cole said civilians who were at the controls of the submarine were under constant supervision.
Yoshishige said the "Navy does receive referrals from a wide range of organizations and individuals. It is not uncommon to receive referrals from retired military members.
"No organization or individual arranges the embarks. Only the Navy arranges embarks on U.S. Navy ships and submarines."
Routinely, Navy submarine commanders allow visitors to operate the control of the vessel under close supervision.
This is what happened Friday, Pietropaoli said. One civilian was at the helm control station, which normally controls the rudder and bow planes of the submarine. But at the time of ascent, the ship was already on an upward movement, and there was nothing to control.
Fingers intertwined
Navy Capt. Tom Kyle stressed that qualified Navy personnel stood by in both cases to make sure proper procedures were followed. In the case of the civilian with his hands controlling the ballast tank flow-valve, a Navy man had his hands over the civilian's hands with their fingers intertwined, said John Hammerschmidt, National Transportation Safety Board spokesman.Asked if civilians interfered with proper operation of the sub during the emergency servicing maneuver, Hammerschmidt replied, "We have no indication of that."
The Greeneville hit the Ehime Maru with the force of an unexploded torpedo, sinking it in 10 minutes. Nine of its 35 crew members are still missing.
The Navy said it tried yesterday to launch Scorpio 2, a remotely operated drone equipped with television cameras and sonar, but choppy seas and gusty winds prevented it.
A second effort will be made today to begin the underwater search with the submersible in 1,800 feet of water 10 miles south of Diamond Head today, the Navy said.
In last night's investigation briefing at the Mariott Waikiki Beach Hotel, Hammerschmidt gave details of damage to the outside of the submarine.
This included sound-reducing tile being ripped off the hull in a gash about 24 feet long, he said. Tile also was stripped off the port side of the rudder, leaving bare metal, he said.
"One of the large indentations on the port side of the rudder broke through its metal skin," he said.
The Ehime Maru was on a two-month training trip with students from Uwajima Fisheries High School in southwestern Japan. Today, 15 crew members returned home; the fishing vessel's captain remains in Hawaii.
Star-Bulletin reporters Leila Fujimori and
Harold Morse contributed to this report.