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Navy investigation finds submarine crash in South China Sea was ‘preventable’

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The failures “fell far under US Navy requirements,” in response to the command investigation, and the accident left the USS Connecticut nuclear-powered Seawolf-class submarine unable to function “for an prolonged time frame” due to the harm.

Eleven sailors suffered minor accidents within the accident, essentially the most critical of which had been a scalp laceration and a damaged scapula. However on the journey to Guam, the place the Connecticut headed following the crash, the ship’s management discovered that greater than a 3rd of the crew would profit from psychological well being remedy.

“A grounding at this pace and depth had the potential for extra critical accidents, fatalities, and even lack of the ship,” wrote Rear Admiral Christopher Cavanaugh, who led the investigation.

In November, the Navy relieved the ship’s management of their duties, together with the commanding officer, government officer, and the chief of the boat. The finished command investigation recommends three different crew members be faraway from their positions.

The navigation assessment crew, which incorporates the commanding officer, failed to seek out and mark at the least 10 underwater hazards close to the placement of the grounding, the investigation discovered, and the crew incorrectly concluded the submarine can be working in an open space. The submarine additionally suffered from “low requirements” as a result of the ship’s management did not maintain sailors accountable for navigation errors or deficiencies.

The investigation additionally revealed a earlier accident on the USS Connecticut. In April 2021, the submarine collided with a pier at Naval Base Level Loma in San Diego. On the time, an investigation discovered “degraded requirements” in navigation, planning and seamanship, however the accident was written off as “an anomalous efficiency and never systemic failure.”

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