Fire-control tech
explains failure to
notify captain
But Waddle takes full
By Greg K. Kakesako
responsibility for accident
Star-BulletinUnder a grant of immunity, a key USS Greeneville technician today testified that he failed to warn the skipper of the USS Greeneville that a Japanese fishing trawler was 4,000 yards away because he was working on another sonar contact.
Fire-control tech
However, Cmdr. Scott Waddle, the sub's captain, told reporters outside the courtroom that he took responsibility for what happened to the Ehime Maru on Feb. 9 and that he is accountable for the actions of his crew.
Petty Officer Patrick T. Seacrest acknowledged that it was his responsibility to warn Lt. (j.g.) Michael Coen, the officer of the deck, and Waddle to report such contacts.
Seacrest, 34, a 14-year Navy veteran, admitted that he failed to keep the ship informed after hitting the "trip wire," which required him to inform his superiors if there was a contact closing within 4,000 yards.
He also acknowledged failing to maintain regular communication with Waddle and key officers in the control room before the sub collided with the Ehime Maru, killing nine.
He said he never warned Waddle there were at least three sonar surface contacts several minutes before the sub collided with the vessel because he assumed the captain knew they were there.
Seacrest told three senior U.S. admirals at the Pearl Harbor court of inquiry that he heard Waddle say just before taking sub to periscope depth of 60 feet: "I have a good feel for the contacts."
Earlier, Seacrest had told the National Transportation Safety Board investigators that he was prevented from updating the contact evaluation plot -- a paper chart on the sub's bulkhead in the control room -- because there were too many civilians in his way.
But today, he said that he decided not to maintain the chart without informing the proper officers in violation of ship's regulations and now believes the 16 civilians did not impede his job.
"You got lazy?" asked Capt. Bruce MacDonald, the counsel for the court.
"Yes, a little bit,"Seacrest replied.
He said today that he didn't see "Sierra 13" -- the Ehime Maru -- because he was concentrating on another sonar contact and preparing to operate at periscope depth.
Seacrest said he didn't report the track of Sierra 13 because he believed it wasn't moving toward the sub. At periscope depth, neither Coen nor Waddle reported seeing any vessels on the surface.
Seacrest also said he didn't see any surface vessels while monitoring the surface picture through a video camera mounted on the periscope. As the fire control technician, Seacrest takes information from Greeneville's sonar operators and does a computer analysis to come up with a more detailed picture of the area surrounding the sub and distances of the vessels.
Relying on those visual sightings Seacrest replotted the position of the Sierra 13 to 9,000 yards to the north before the collision.
However, MacDonald said that analysis of the sonar data showed that occurred 15 to 30 seconds after the collision and not before.
Seacrest said he didn't know why there was such a discrepancy. He also said he wasn't supposed to be on the Greeneville on Feb. 9, but that another sailor in his section had "family troubles."
Navy depends on
By Gregg K. Kakesako
civilian tours to gain
crucial support
Star-BulletinThe fight in a tiny Pearl Harbor courtroom is not only about the Navy's first submarine collision while performing an emergency surfacing maneuver, it is also about a little-publicized program that the submarine service uses to woo influential people.
One civilian lawyer, Jay Fiddle, who has been monitoring the court of inquiry proceedings for the past two weeks, observed that Adm. Thomas Fargo, Pacific Fleet commander, and the Navy leadership as a whole is in a battle to preserve this program, which takes journalists, civic leaders, politicians, congressional staffers and Navy supporters to sea.
They are given a tour of the ship, a Navy meal, autographed pictures of themselves at the periscope or the helm, and ball caps and leave, the Navy hopes, with a good story to tell when they get home to help with its struggle for dollars in Congress.
As Lt. Cmdr. Dave Werner, Pacific Submarine Force public affairs spokesman, disclosed during last week's court of inquiry session, "People will remember more if they can get out and touch it and feel it."
It was a crucial part of his boss's -- Rear Adm. Albert Konetzni -- program to win support for the sub service and stop cuts in the force, whose numbers have been whittled down to 25 in the Pacific as the flow of money dried up following the end of the Cold War.
Ten years ago, there were 36 nuclear attack subs in the Pacific Fleet alone. A 1998 study of submarine needs worldwide estimated that 72 would be required. However, military planners have been told to keep the sub force at 50, split evenly between the Atlantic and the Pacific.
Since taking command at Pearl Harbor in 1998, Konetzni spent a large portion of his time talking publicly about the "silent service" and encouraged these kinds of trips to make his case to rebuild his fleet.
Adm. Konetzni told the court of inquiry that unless a sub engages in fancy maneuvers, such as "angles and dangles" and emergency surfacing drills, riding a vessel with no windows can be as entertaining and exciting as "watching grass grow."
In the case of the USS Greeneville, planning for the Feb. 9 distinguished-visitors embark began as far back as September with an e-mail requesting support going from Fargo's office to Werner's at Pearl Harbor. At that point Capt. Kevin Wensing, Pacific Fleet spokesman, said the civilians wishing to ride on a submarine had the endorsement of the secretary of the Navy.
It was also being pushed by retired Adm. Richard Macke, a former commander of the military forces who had to leave early in his term after making inappropriate remarks during a rape trial involving Marines stationed on Okinawa.
Charles Gittins, civilian attorney for Cmdr. Scott Waddle, also disclosed while questioning Werner that Matt Lauer, NBC "Today Show" host, also wanted time on a sub.
Rear Adm. Charles Griffiths, Greeneville investigator and commander of the submarine group on the West Coast, described DV embarks as a "wonderful way" to build public support for the sub fleet.
Despite Navy regulations, the sole mission on Feb. 9 was to take 16 civilians from five states, including a Honolulu couple, to sea for a six-hour cruise. Its training mission had been postponed until the following Monday to give the crew the weekend off after a successful monthlong West Coast training deployment. It had left a third of the crew at Pearl Harbor on Friday to conduct training in a simulator.
The Greeneville has taken civilians to sea five times, twice in 1999 and three times last year. In February 1999, before Waddle assumed command of the Greeneville, Tipper Gore -- wife of then-Vice President Al Gore -- rode on the Greeneville, named after a county in Tennessee, and which she had christened in 1994.
She sat in the helmsman's seat on that trip and also watched as the Greeneville performed an emergency main ballast tank blow, the maneuver that on Feb. 9 resulted in the collision with the Ehime Maru, killing nine.
Last summer during a training mission, the Greeneville stopped in California to pick up James Cameron, the Oscar-winning director of the movie "Titanic."
More than 7,800 civilians rode on the Pacific Fleet's aircraft carriers, submarines and other surface warfare vessels last year. That figure was even higher in 1999: 11,400 civilians making 233 trips. The Pacific Fleet had 21 sea tours for 307 guests on nuclear subs like the Greeneville last year, averaging 15 guests per trip.
