Admiral: Complacency caused sub collision

This photo shows the Los Angeles-class attack submarine Hartford underway March 20 in the Persian Gulf after a collision with the amphibious transport dock ship New Orleans in the Strait of Hormuz between Iran and the Arabian peninsula.


Admiral: Complacency caused sub collision
By Andrew Scutro - Staff writer
Posted : Wednesday Oct 28, 2009 16:37:46 EDT

MCLEAN, Va. — Complacency and poor management of surface contacts led to the March 20 collision between the attack submarine Hartford and the amphibious transport dock New Orleans in the Strait of Hormuz, according to the Navy’s leader of the undersea fleet.

Speaking Wednesday at the annual Naval Submarine League meeting, Submarine Force commander Vice Adm. Jay Donnelly described a control room with “a lot of informality” and a “series of personnel failures” he blamed on the sub’s leadership.

The collision, which happened at night, came as the sub was making a submerged transit to Jebel Ali, its last port call before heading home to Groton, Conn.

The crew had just finished an intense operational phase of its deployment and “everybody let down their guard” for what was actually one of the most challenging phases, crossing the strait at periscope depth, he said.

“There was a great deal of complacency involved in the crew,” he said. “They had been at sea for 63 days operating in areas with high contact density.”


Rest of article at: http://www.navytimes.com/news/2009/10/navy_hartford_lessons_102809w/