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Navy completes
probe of sunken
Ehime Maru

Evaluating whether to try raising
the Japanese ship should
take two weeks

Admiral wraps up Bush's apologies
What happened, when on Feb. 9

---

By Gregg K. Kakesako
Star-Bulletin

The Navy has completed the underwater survey of the Ehime Maru, which lies in 2,003 feet of water, and will decide within two weeks whether to raise it.

The survey, completed Saturday, was considered the first step in what will probably be an international salvage expedition marshalling resources from Japan and the United States.

In a 12-page statement released yesterday, the Navy said its evaluation will probably be completed March 12.

The statement was a point-by-point reply to 31 questions raised by family members of the crew and students who were on the Ehime Maru when it was rammed by the nuclear attack submarine USS Greeneville Feb. 9. It sank within 10 minutes, and although 26 passengers and crew were saved, nine are still missing.

The Navy's statement said that by March 8 it should have a technical estimate "describing if and how the Ehime Maru can be brought back to the surface."

Salvage of the 190-foot fishing training trawler, which sits upright on the ocean floor, is "an extremely difficult technical feat," the Navy statement says.

No such salvage equipment is available in Hawaii. Civilian deep-diving experts have estimated that the job could cost as much as $20 million.

Admiral conveys Bush's 'sorrow' Associated Press UWAJIMA, Japan -- The Navy's No. 2 officer completed a round of apologies on behalf of President Bush today, expressing "profound sorrow" to the families and classmates of the four students presumed dead in the Ehime Maru sinking. "I was sent by President Bush to be his personal representative and to convey his apologies and profound sorrow," Adm. William Fallon said. Today was graduation day for 50 of the school's 200 students.

"The U.S. military has never salvaged a vessel of this size from 2,000 feet of water. The salvage of large vessels of this size has been conducted in the past, but the vessels were in less than 50 feet of water."

The just-completed assessment stage was done by two remotely controlled vehicles which were each equipped with color video cameras.

One of the questions repeatedly asked by the Japanese was why the Greeneville's crew did not attempt to rescue the survivors, who were floating in 10 orange life rafts.

The Navy's answer was that besides joining in the search for other survivors, the submarine also provided communication to Coast Guard rescue boats and its Honolulu headquarters.

The Navy said the Greeneville contacted its headquarters at Pearl Harbor at 1:50 p.m. after surfacing and discovering it had hit the Japanese vessel. Five minutes later, Pacific Fleet Submarine Forces headquarters notified the Coast Guard.

At 2 p.m. the Coast Guard's Joint Rescue Coordination Center in Honolulu received an emergency distress beacon from the Ehime Maru.

By 2:27 p.m. a Coast Guard H-65 Dolphin helicopter was on the scene nines miles south of Diamond Head. By 3:38 p.m. -- more than 90 minutes after the collision -- Coast Guard boats had picked up the 26 survivors.

The Navy said that Cmdr. Scott Waddle, the ship's captain, and Lt. j.g. Michael Coen and two rescue swimmers came to the sub's bridge -- located outside at the top of the conning tower -- and remained there to search for any survivors who could have been in the water.

Sea conditions -- with waves running from 3 to 6 feet -- prevented the Greeneville from opening any of the hatches on its main deck.

"It was deemed too risky to the Ehime Maru crew members to transfer them from the rafts to the Greeneville via the hatch in the sail," the statement said.

The Japanese also wanted to know if Waddle chose to demonstrate the emergency surfacing maneuver to give the 16 civilians on board "the thrill of a roller coaster ride."

The Navy said the agenda of the daylong orientation cruise was published before the Greeneville left Pearl Harbor at 8 a.m., and included the emergency blow demonstration as the last major event before the ship was to dock at 3 p.m.

The maneuver, the Navy said, is "carefully scripted to ensure the visitors gain a full appreciation of its capabilities."

"While emergency surface maneuver is a rapid ascent to the surface with a great expenditure of energy, its demonstration purpose is to ensure the American public understands the recoverability designed into the vessel in the case of a problem while ship is submerged."

The Navy said the emergency surfacing maneuver is performed at least once a year by each of the 19 submarines in the Pacific Fleet.

It will be up to the Court of Inquiry, which begins Monday, to determine why the procedures used by the Greeneville failed.

The actions of Waddle and Coen along with those of the Greeneville's executive officer, Lt. Cmdr. Gerald Pfeifer, will be examined by a panel of three senior admirals.

What happened and when during Feb. 9 disaster 1:50 p.m. Time of collision reported by USS Greeneville. (Other investigations have placed the collision at 1:45 p.m. and 1:48 p.m.) 1:55 p.m. Coast Guard notified by commander of the Pacific Fleet Submarine Forces. 1:56 p.m. Coast Guard H-65 Dolphin helicopter diverted from whale sanctuary flight to accident. 2:00 p.m. Coast Guard Joint Rescue Coordination Center receives radio beacon distress signal from Ehime Maru. 2:05 p.m. Coast Guard dispatches 24-foot and 41-foot vessels to the scene. 2:27 p.m. Coast Guard helicopter arrives and searches for crew not in life rafts. 2:31 p.m. First Coast Guard vessel -- the 24-footer -- arrives, checks the 10 life rafts and begins picking up survivors. 2:44 p.m. Second Coast Guard vessel arrives and transfers crew from life rafts. 2:45 p.m. Two Navy vessels dispatched to the scene. 2:51 p.m. Coast Guard C-130 plane diverted to scene. 3:10 p.m. Coast Guard C-130 arrives, begins search. 3:38 p.m. Smaller Coast Guard vessel recovers 26 crew from life rafts and transports them to shore. Nine remain missing. 4:47 p.m. Navy P-3 aircraft arrives on scene to help with the search. 4:52 p.m. Navy H-60 helicopter arrives to join the search. 4:56 p.m. Coast Guard cutter Assateague arrives, assumes on-scene command. 5:30 p.m. USS Salvor, Navy salvage vessel, joins the search. 6:15 p.m. USS Lake Erie gets underway to join search.