(CNN) -- U.S. Coast Guard and military aircraft Saturday are en route to the western Pacific, where a nuclear attack submarine ran aground, wounding several crew members -- including at least one critically -- according to the U.S. Pacific Fleet.
The USS San Francisco ran aground some 350 miles south of Guam -- the nearest land mass -- while it was conducting submerged operations. It has since resurfaced and is heading back to Guam, according to the USPF's news release.
"At this point there does not seem to be damage to the (nuclear) reactor," Lt. j.g. Adam Clampitt told CNN, from his base in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
The accident happened Saturday at noon, Guam time (Friday 9 p.m. ET, 4 p.m. Hawaii time).
The nuclear-powered vessel is a Los Angeles-class "fast attack" submarine. Clampitt says it was carrying four torpedo-tubes, which can launch Tomahawk cruise missiles. It is the most common type of U.S. attack submarine in the naval fleet since 2004.
Clampitt said there are 137 crew members on board the USS San Francisco.
The nuclear submarine has a "limited medical staff on board," he said. Most of the wounded suffered head injuries, Clampitt said.
"Our first concern is the safety of the crew," Clampitt said.
The aircraft are bringing medical staff and investigators to assess the extent of the injuries and damage to the submarine
My question is, how do you run a submarine aground? Anyone have pictures of this event? or was it stuck in the shallows?
My guess would be the shallows, therefore they had to rise up. Prolly just a mistake with one of the navigators. I can only imagine that their chain of command is going to catch hell for that.
My guess would be the shallows, therefore they had to rise up. Prolly just a mistake with one of the navigators. I can only imagine that their chain of command is going to catch hell for that.
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I must not know a lot about subs, because I don't know how someone could be critically injured by running aground. :Puzzled:
It's not like they can move at 100 + knots...
they run about 30 knots(subed) I'm guessing, I don't know jack sh*t about merican submarines. I'm guessing this because of it's shape. Anyway I'm just amazed simply because of the size and ship of modern submarines, they are not something you can simply beach, heh....
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Ensign RilesI must not know a lot about subs, because I don't know how someone could be critically injured by running aground. :Puzzled:
It's not like they can move at 100 + knots...
We (my family) used to have a sailboat that made 6 knots at full speed with the egnine. Once we ran aground with it and it was no small collision! I flew a up a few centimetres from my seat! Got scared to sh*t.
Imagine a submerged submarine that's going in 30 knots. It's not exactly alot of room in a submarine either.
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Which means you shouldn't be thrown very far. :confused:
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Ensign RilesWhich means you shouldn't be throw very far. :confused:
It means that your head gets launched up in a pipe...
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Ensign RilesWhich means you shouldn't be throw very far. :confused:
It means that your head gets launched up in a pipe...
Ensign RilesWhich means you shouldn't be thrown very far. :confused:
Equipment will be lying all over the place, and chances are the guys who got injured bumped their heads into something fairly hard. Imagine moving on a crate on a railroad track at a speed of ten MPH, and then it suddenly stops. You would go flying off of it. Same thing in this case, except the submarine was probably going faster than 10 MPH.