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投稿者 abcnews 日時 2001 年 2 月 16 日 12:49:55:
回答先: 米NBCテレビが、原潜「グリーンビル」に搭乗していた民間人のインタビューを放送 投稿者 kamiura.com/new 日時 2001 年 2 月 16 日 11:15:29:
Cmdr. Scott Daniel Waddle, who was the
commander of the USS Greeneville at the time of
the collision, could face criminal charges. (Santa
Barbara News-Press/AP Photo)
Eyes on the Commander
Probe Focuses on Periscope Scan Before U.S. Sub Crash
By David Ruppe
Feb. 15 ﾑ The Navy's investigation into the crash of a nuclear
submarine into a Japanese fishing boat off Hawaii is focusing on a
periscope scan done before the sub practiced a complex
emergency maneuver leading to the crash.
Investigators are looking into why the commander of the
USS Greeneville, Scott Waddle, apparently failed to spot
the Japanese trawler either through the periscope or by
using sonar just prior to descending deep and then
performing a rapid ascent to the surface.
"In terms of the review you do prior to resurfacing the
ships, the extent to which that was done, the sufficiency
with which that was done, and the effectiveness of that,
is what is precisely the meat of the investigation," the
Navy's chief of information, Stephen Pietropaoli, said at a
Pentagon briefing today.
Waddle has been reassigned pending the results of the
investigation. The Feb. 9 crash sank the Ehime Maru
near the island of Oahu and left nine Japanese missing,
including four high-school fisheries students. Twenty-six
other people aboard were rescued. The search is still on for possible survivors, although at this
point there is little hope of finding any of the missing alive.
Officials say Waddle could face criminal charges.
Civilians Believed Not a Cause
Officials say they do not believe the 16 civilian guests on the submarine, two at controls under
close supervision, played a direct role in the incident, though they have not ruled that out.
The Navy told the public only Wednesday that the civilians were on board, and today apologized
for not earlier informing the public and the National Transportation Safety Board about their
presence. The NTSB is conducting its own investigation into the crash because it involved a
civilian vessel.
"Clearly, in hindsight, we could have done a much better job of making that information known
not only to you all, but to the NTSB," said Rear Adm. Craig Quigley, a Pentagon spokesman. "I
think people were assuming that the Navy would be the right ones to make that available, and
we didn't do a good job of getting that out sooner." NTSB spokesman John Hammerschmidt
confirmed Wednesday that a civilian was
allowed to flip the Greeneville's ballast
activation levers, which shoots the water
out of its ballast tanks helping to raise the
vessel quickly to the surface during the
emergency maneuver.
He said the civilian and another who was
seated at the helm were being closely
supervised at the time. In the case of the
ballast levers, a member of the crew was
standing next to the civilian and was said to
guide the civilian's hand as the levers were
pulled. At the helm, the Greeneville's
helmsman stood over the other civilian.
President Bush today said the military
would need to reconsider its policies regarding civilian visits during military exercises.
"I think what's going to be necessary is for Secretary [of Defense] Rumsfeld and the Defense
Department to revi
ew all policy regarding civilian activity during military exercises," he said.
Commander Distracted?
Questions have been raised about whether presence of civilians might have distracted the
Greeneville's commander and crew from scanning the surface of the sea properly.
The reported 6-foot swells at the time of the accident were not particularly severe, experts say,
enabling the periscope to see perhaps 6 or 7 miles comfortably. But they note a not sufficiently
thorough scan can be a dangerous one.
"It depends upon how quickly you look, doesn't it," said Richard Sharpe, a former British Navy
nuclear submarine captain and former editor of Jane's Fighting Ships. "It is possible that at the
precise moment you are looking in the direction of the ship that a particular big wave might
obscure your vision. But if that happens, you slow down your rate of sweep so that you do see
in that direction."
The visual range of a periscope also depends upon how high it is raised to account for the
curve of the earth, he notes.
And civilians or not, the crew shouldn't have missed the fishing boat if it was withing visual
range, said Sharpe.
"A trained commanding officer should not miss it under any circumstances, even with swells
twice what he had to go through," he said. "It all comes back to the one man who failed to
appreciate the surface picture, as its called, before taking this [action]."
The Navy's Pietropaoli said the Greeneville did perform a periscope sweep prior to performing
the resurfacing maneuver. A civilian who was in the control room said he saw Cmdr. Waddle
perform the periscope sweep. Pietropaoli also said the Ehime Maru had been "within a few
miles" of the sub. He declined release specific information on the speed and location of the
Japanese trawler prior to the crash, deferring instead to the NTSB.
Submergence Time
Investigators so far have ruled out the possibility the submarine during the practice emergency
procedure might have spent too much time underwater after conducting the periscope search.
Normally, after the periscope scan is done, the submarine begins to move forward as it dives up
to several hundred feet and then begins to rapidly ascend. Experts say that can take up to 10 to
15 minutes, hopefully
a short enough time that no other craft enters the vicinity.
"The policy is to do it as expeditiously as possible to minimize the chance that the surface picture
will change while you're submerged. In practice, it's generally less than 10 minutes. In this
instance, they were less than that standard," said Pietropaoli. He did not release information on
how long the Greeneville had been submerged.
The Greeneville also used passive sonar to try to identify potential craft in its path, according to
standard procedure. Submarines routinely use passive sonar, which involves listening for the
sounds of other craft ﾑ rather than the more accurate method of sending out and receiving
back pinging sound ﾑ to keep from giving away the submarine's position to potential enemies.
U.S. officials today also played down the fact that the USS Greeneville was 2 nautical miles (2.3
statute miles) outside the Navy's official submarine training area when the accident happened,
as reported in the Navy Times today.
"It doesn't reduce the commanding officer's responsibility to ensure traffic is clear before he
surfaces. It doesn't burden the surface vessels in any way to stay clear of that area. It is not an
exclusion zone," said Pietropaoli.
Within the 14-by-4-mile training area, which is marked on National Oceanographic and
Atmospheric Administration charts, civilian vessels are advised to proceed with caution because
of submarine training activity.
Civilian Rides Common
Officials say its common practice to have civilian guests, including family members invited aboard
vessels during exercises such as the one Friday. But experts say it is not necessarily common
for them to steer the vessel during a critical maneuver such as the emergency surfacing
maneuver performed by the Greeneville.
"When you're doing something that's out of the ordinary, especially when you're testing an
emergency procedure, which the ballast blow is, you don't want civilians within arm's length,"
submarine analyst and author Norman Polmar told ABCNEWS.
Military and government officials today again declined to identify the civilians who were aboard
the sub, citing their appeals for privacy.
Three of the civilian passengers, however, appeared on an NBC's Today show this morning.
John Hall, who was at a control panel during the surfacing procedure, said he was permitted
under close supervision to pull the levers that caused the submarine to rapidly rise.
The other two civilians identified were husband and wife Todd and Dianda Thoman.
"And quite frankly, you have 16 middle-class Americans who thought they were getting the ride
of their lifetime and it didn't turn out that way. It turned into a tragedy," said Hall.
題名には必ず「阿修羅さんへ」と記述してください。