Former sub skipper The Navy has approved the request of Cmdr. Scott Waddle, the former skipper of the USS Greeneville, to retire at the end of this month with his pension intact.
to retire Sept. 30
The Navy will allow Scott Waddle
to leave with his full pensionSetbacks will not stop Ehime lift
By Gregg K. Kakesako
gkakesako@starbulletin.comBut it is still unknown whether Waddle will make good his promise to travel to Japan and meet with families of those who were killed when his nuclear submarine USS Greeneville rammed into the hull of the Ehime Maru nine miles south of Diamond Head on Feb. 9.
Lt. Cmdr. Kelly Merrell, Pacific Fleet Submarine Force spokeswoman, said yesterday that "the Navy was still working with Japanese officials" to coordinate Waddle's visit to Japan. Waddle is believed to be on paid leave until his retirement takes affect Sept. 30.
After the Ehime Maru accident, the Greeneville had to be dry-docked and underwent $2 million in repairs.
Waddle faced a Navy court of inquiry earlier this year and was later reprimanded at an April 23 admiral's mast, an administrative hearing. Waddle, who was at the helm of the Greeneville at the time of the collision, was stripped of his command and given a reprimand.
Merrell said Waddle's request to retire as a Navy commander with a little more than 20 years of service was approved.
His annual pension would be about $34,740 a year.
He had said during the court of inquiry and subsequent interviews that he planned to go to Uwajima in Ehime prefecture, the home of the students, teachers and crewmen of the Ehime Maru.
The Greeneville was demonstrating an emergency surfacing maneuver for 16 civilians when it surfaced into the hull of the 190-foot Ehime Maru.
In other Greeneville news, Merrell said the investigation in the Greeneville's second accident this year has been completed and turned over to Rear Adm. Joseph Enright, Submarine Group 7 commander in Japan.
She said that the findings of the Aug. 27 incident will not be made public until after Rear Adm. John Padgett, Pacific Fleet Submarine Force commander, has reviewed the case.
Merrell would not comment on statements made by the Saipan harbormaster that he was surprised that Cmdr. David S. Bogdan, who replaced Waddle, decided against docking in Saipan but chose to reverse the submarine because the seas in the channel were too rough. The Greeneville ended up scraping its rudder and hull and is in Guam for repairs.
Bogdan, a 1983 Naval Academy graduate, has been the executive officer of the USS Topeka and served at Pearl Harbor on the Pacific Submarine Force staff in 1994.