Reprimand of FOUR REMAINING CREWMEN of the USS Greeneville have received reprimands, closing the case of the Ehime Maru except for the possibility of raising the sunken Japanese fishing training vessel this summer.
4 Greeneville sailors
ends discipline
The sub's No. 2 officer and
three crewmen receive censure
in the Ehime Maru collisionBy Gregg K. Kakesako
Star-BulletinThe Navy also has assigned Cmdr. David S. Bogdan as the new captain of the Greeneville.
Bogdan, a 1983 Naval Academy graduate, will be on board when the Greeneville returns to sea next week for a weeklong cruise as it continues to work to be recertified for a six-month Western Pacific deployment. Bogdan has been the executive officer of the USS Topeka and served at Pearl Harbor on the staff of the Pacific Submarine Force in 1994.
Yesterday, Capt. Tony Cortese, interim commander of the Greeneville, completed the punishments meted out by Adm. Thomas Fargo, Pacific Fleet commander, on Monday. Cortese was assigned to the Greeneville on Feb. 10 -- the day after the collision.
At Monday's "admiral's mast" administrative hearing, Cmdr. Scott Waddle was stripped of command of the nuclear-powered submarine and given a reprimand. Waddle was at the helm on Feb. 9 when the Greeneville surfaced into the hull of the Japanese fishing vessel Ehime Maru nine miles south of Diamond Head.
Twenty-six crewmen and passengers survived the collision. However, four high school students, two of their teachers and three crewmen were never found. A Navy court of inquiry, after listening to 33 witnesses over 12 days, agreed that Waddle and none of his crew were guilty of criminal acts and recommended admonishments instead of courts-martial.
On Monday, Fargo reprimanded Waddle and Lt. j.g. Michael Coen, officer of the deck when the accident occurred. Waddle plans to retire in October and will remain on the staff of the Pacific Submarine Force until then. It will be up to new Navy Secretary Gordon England to determine if Waddle will be allowed to retire as a commander at an annual pension of about $34,700 a year.
Fargo then instructed Cortese as the Greeneville's skipper to issue similar reprimands to:
>> Lt. Cmdr. Gerald Pfeifer, the sub's executive officer.
>> Master Chief Douglas Coffman, the chief of the boat and the senior enlisted sailor on the Greeneville.
>> Petty Officer Edward McGibboney, Greeneville's sonar supervisor, who allowed an untrained sonar operator to be on duty without proper supervision.
Finally, Cortese yesterday held a captain's mast for Petty Officer Patrick Seacrest, the fire control technician who failed to warn Waddle that the Ehime Maru was 4,000 yards north of the sub on a collision course. He also neglected to maintain a wall chart that gave an overview of the sonar contacts near the Greeneville. He said 16 civilians aboard the ship that day and crowded into the control room were a distraction.
Seacrest was admonished and counseled for failing to provide the sub with safe navigational procedures.
After the admiral's mast, Waddle said the Navy would send him to Japan in late May so that he could apologize in person to all of the family members of the victims, as well as to the principal of Uwajima Fisheries High School, which owned the Ehime Maru.
