Greeneville scrapes
hull in new accident

The sub is in Guam for repairs
while the Navy investigates

---

By Gregg K. Kakesako
gkakesako@starbulletin.com

The nuclear attack submarine USS Greeneville is in trouble again.

This time the Greeneville, with new skipper Cmdr. David Bogdan, is in Guam for repairs after apparently scraping the bottom while attempting to enter a harbor in Saipan on Monday. A Navy investigation is under way to determine the exact cause of the accident that resulted in "minor damage" to the rudder and the outboard motor fairing under the hull, Lt. Cmdr. Kelly Merrell, Submarine Forces spokeswoman said last night.

No one in Greeneville's crew was injured, Merrell added, "and the repairs are not expected to impact Greeneville's current deployment schedule."

It was the Greeneville, with Cmdr. Scott Waddle at the helm, that struck and sunk the 190-foot Japanese fisheries training vessel Ehime Maru Feb. 9, nine miles south of Diamond Head.

Of the 35 crewmen and passengers, 26 were saved.

However, the bodies of nine people, including four teenage students from Uwajima Fisheries High School, were never found.

This afternoon, the Navy and the civilian crew from the heavy-lift ship Rockwater 2 were to attempt to raise the stern of the 830-ton Ehime Maru high enough to drag two 28-millimeter wires under the hull -- one under the pilothouse and the other beneath the engine room.

Once the wires are in place, the Rockwater 2 will lower the stern. The wires will be used to pull heavier 36-millimeter wires into place.

The heavier wires will then be used to pull two 66-foot-long metal plates that will be part of a special cradle to raise the Ehime Maru about 90 feet off the ocean bottom. That operation is expected to take place in mid-September.

ERIC MATSUZAKI / SPECIAL TO THE STAR-BULLETIN
The Rockwater 2 vessel was working at the site of the
Ehime Maru’s underwater wreckage yesterday, a crane
positioning its cable in the water. Observers believe
the cable was connected to the Ehime Maru as crews
prepared to move the submerged vessel to shallower waters.

When the stern lift occurs today, the Navy said it will have oil spill mitigation and containment equipment at the deepwater recovery site because of the possibility that some of the 45,000 gallons of diesel fuel believed to be trapped in the Ehime Maru's hull might be released.

The Ehime Maru was believed to be carrying 60,000 gallons of diesel fuel and lube oil when it left Honolulu Harbor. A helicopter will be used to monitor the operations.

The Greeneville, which left Pearl Harbor Aug. 15 -- about three months behind schedule -- underwent about $2 million of repairs to its hull following the collision with the Ehime Maru.

Except for Waddle, the Greeneville's crew was intact as it left the islands for its first Western Pacific deployment since the accident.

Merrell said the Greeneville on Monday was attempting to enter Saipan harbor for a routine port visit. She said Bogdan encountered "very rough seas" and ordered the Greeneville to reverse its course.

At that point he received a "red sounding" from the fathometer, indicating a shallow depth under the hull.

Merrell said she did not know the depth of the harbor at the time of the accident, adding those particulars will be part of the Navy's investigation.

Divers from the submarine tender USS Frank Cable, stationed in Guam, did a preliminary inspection and found minor damage to the hull.

Bogdan, a 1983 Naval Academy graduate, has been the executive officer for the USS Topeka and a member of the Pearl Harbor Pacific Submarine Force staff since 1994.