Report due on
Greeneville

With the sub set to depart,
its skipper's future is uncertain

By Gregg K. Kakesako
Star-Bulletin

Adm. Thomas Fargo will receive a report Saturday that will determine the fate of the USS Greeneville crew, which prepares to go to sea today, and possibly the Navy's distinguished-visitor program.

As the USS Greeneville prepares to go to sea today for the first time in two months since its tragic collision with a Japanese training fishing vessel, Navy officials say Fargo, Pacific Fleet commander, will be in San Diego on Saturday to attend his Submarine Force's gala birthday celebration for one of its squadrons.

During this weekend's visit, Fargo, a former submarine skipper, also will meet with Vice Adm. John Nathman, who heads the Pacific Fleet's air squadrons, and go over the court of inquiry findings and recommendations.

Nathman headed the panel of three senior admirals charged by Fargo to investigate the Feb. 9 accident, where the Greeneville surfaced into the hull of the Ehime Maru.

The Japanese vessel, with a crew and passenger manifest of 35, sunk within minutes.

Still unaccounted for are nine adults and teenage boys.

The families of the missing want the Navy to raise the Ehime Maru far enough off the ocean bottom to retrieve personal belongings and any bodies that might have been trapped in the vessel.

The ship now rests on the Pacific floor in 2,003 feet of water nine miles south of Diamond Head. The families also have begun compensation talks with the Navy.

Today, the Greeneville, with interim skipper Capt. Tony Cortese, was to take the nuclear sub for its first sea trials since it completed $2 million worth of repairs at Pearl Harbor.

Waddle was replaced a day after the Feb. 9 accident. He was the only crew member taken off the sub.

The sea trials will last several days as the Greeneville prepares for a six-month Western Pacific deployment.

For nearly three weeks beginning March 5, Nathman heard hours of testimony from 33 witnesses concerning the actions of Cmdr. Scott Waddle, the Greeneville's skipper; Lt. Cmdr. Gerald Pfeifer, his executive officer; and Lt. j.g. Michael Coen, the sub's officer of the deck.

The panel, whose findings will not be released by the Navy, could recommend anything from a court-martial to no action. Fargo has 30 days to act upon the panel's recommendations and is not expected to take that long.

Waddle faces possible charges of negligent homicide, dereliction of duty and not operating the sub in a safe manner.

The acting secretary of the Navy, Robert B. Pirie Jr., also a former submarine captain, has said he believes it would hurt morale in the Navy if Waddle is court-martialed.

Pirie said he will support Fargo if he decides that a court-martial "is required" for Waddle or other crew members aboard the Greeneville.

But Pirie said he expects Fargo to consider such big-picture factors as morale before making his decision.

Pirie said he feels sympathy for Waddle, who his boss, Rear Adm. Al Konetzni, has said seemed destined for promotion to maybe even command of the Pacific Fleet's Submarine Force.