When Armed Forces personnel sign on, they know that they are risking their lives to serve their countries, but when men go to sea, they understand that, even if they survive an attack, it is just as possible that the sea itself will claim their lives. She is an “unforgiving mistress”, as an old Irish folk song says.
Those two forces alone are enough to give one thought about joining up, but countless servicemen do it, and some take on the particularly dangerous task of serving on a submarine.
So imagine the shock and fear the men aboard the USS San Francisco felt when their boat ran straight into a mountain, southeast of Guam, resulting in dozens of casualties, one fatality, damage to the sub’s nose that cost millions to repair and the laying of charges against her commander at the time, Kevin Mooney, who was found by the Navy to be guilty of such poor judgment the entire crew nearly perished.
The USS San Francisco was launched in 1979, built by Newport News Shipbuilding & The Dry Dock Company, of Virginia. Its commander then was J. Allen Marshall, and her home port (at the time) was Pearl Harbour. From 1982 until 1986, she undertook deployments with the USS Seventh Fleet, and consequently, her crew was awarded the Navy Expeditionary Medal for independent operations in 1988.
But later certain operational tasks were not always observed or carried out. Because the collision with the mountain, in early 2005, was so serious that not only the men but the boat itself were almost lost to the sea. If not for the crew’s expertise, she would have been.
The sub’s forward ballasts were badly damaged, as was the sonar dome. But mercifully, the inner hull was not struck, so there was no damage to the nuclear reactor. The submarine was at a depth of over 500 feet when she hit the mountain straight on.
The crew was sent flying from their posts. Glass shattered. Almost 100 men sustained injuries, and one of them, Machinist’s Mate Second Class Joseph A. Allen, only 24, died of head trauma.
His comrades tried desperately to save him by performing an emergency tracheotomy, which at least got him breathing again. But they could not get him through the bridge hatch to the top deck, because water continuously poured in. The other wounded men had fractures, broken bones and one had a spinal injury.
Naturally, the obvious question is why? Which the Navy wanted answering. When the boat got back to shore, an internal investigation into the accident was immediately started.
Officials concluded that “it is reasonable to conclude that it did not strike another submarine or vessel,” the Navy’s statement clarified. In other words, Commander Mooney should have seen it coming, even though it appeared on maps as a dark mass.
Ultimately, Mooney was reprimanded, and a letter went into his permanent file. Furthermore, six other men on board were reprimanded for “dereliction of duty, reduced in rank and also received letters of reprimand in their personnel files. However, 20 more were recognized for outstanding conduct and given promotions and medals for achievement and bravery.
Getting the USS San Francisco back into the sea cost approximately $134 million. The US Navy replaced the nose with one from another submarine and it went back into service under Commander Jeff Jeurgens until 2016, when the boat was retired and rejigged into a moored training ship in Norfolk, VA. It is safe to say that many of the Navy’s submarines have exciting histories, but few have the frightening past of the USS San Francisco.