Asleep at the wheel….of a submarine!!!!

[Careyp74]

yes, the boat was at periscope depth. I think the idea is that the sub loses a lot of its maneuverability on the surface, and since 'rules of the road' says it has to give way to most of the other large ships crossing the straight at that time, the more maneuverability it has the better.

When at PD, many of the sonar arrays are useless. The cavitation from the Periscope and other antennae cause interference to the side arrays in the sail. The boat relies heavily on the periscope, and Electronic Surveillance at this time. Frequent sweeps of the area by the Officer of the Deck will update the contacts. The report stated that this was not being done.

 

[shadron]

I dunno. Since Roman times, military experts have recommended a policy of "train the way you fight, and fight the way you train".

Doing that with sleep is just stupid. You cannot get used to lack of sleep; you may learn some coping skills, but you'll never have the same ability to concentrate or stay alert. You cannot grow immunity to lack of sleep.

It's a safe bet that war doesn't include a generous sleep schedule, and that any competent enemy would ruthlessly and murderously exploit an army whose soldiers had been trained to expect 8 hours of sleep out of every 24 just to do their jobs.

Sure it doesn't, but that doesn't mean that they keep more people on alert than necessary when there is a war on. Doing so will just lead to a complete collapse when push comes to shove.

How does one become accustomed to 8 hours sleep? It has been my experience that I can accustom myself to getting up at almost any hour as long as I go to bed at the right time. Come the weekends, it's as long as I can keep the noise down.

 

[The Man]

I believe that the boat was at periscope depth. I will look into that more.

Thanks, I think that is an important aspect.

Well, I will admit that I hadn't thought of the idea of the surface ship being taken for the fake contact. Possible, but I think though that would have come out in the investigation, and the news had so much other information, they would have likely known that.

Just something that occrred to me considering the addition of the false contact.

I was not an officer, so I cannot say for sure, but I do not know of any exams that the Nav would be required to take while at sea. I never knew of an officer to take PACE courses, the military version of Phoenix University, either. Perhaps JBA could give us more insight? Is there any written exams for officers, like during Readiness examinations, like the TRE of ORSE?

I would imagine, although I think there might have been better times to take such an exam. Though I don’t know where the Hartford was headed at the time. I might speculate that not having completed the exam on patrol the navigator might have been doing it at the last minute (dang party boat atmosphere).

The idea that I get from all of this is, Commanders can either be lax, or strict. The lax ones take a gamble that the boat may one day hit something, and they lose their commission. If they get through it then it was smooth sailing. It is fairly common for subs to hit something. This isn't the first time that the Hartford has, either. Buoys, fishing boats, lobster pots, the ground, other subs, surface ships, all have been hit in the past.

Exactly, it does fall ultimately upon the commander.

I actually had three different Commanders. All three were strict. All three made rounds to the various departments keeping an eye on things. The other officers didn't care if the Helm was slouching in his seat, or if the Radioman of the Watch was down in Crews Mess (the dining hall) watching a movie with off-watch personnel. But the CO was not one to turn a blind eye.

Glad to hear it. Though even as a shift lead (12 hour shifts) I often watch movies with coworkers, but we have to watch the system as well. As I said I have no problem with and certainly do not lack an understanding of being bored for hours on end. However, some (including myself at times) got so intent on other activities (often intended to simply help keep them awake) that system failures where not immediately noticed. Of course such periodic inattentiveness will not generally result in a crash. It just makes a 3 billion (actually probably 7 to 8 billion now with the recent expansion) dollar facility less productive for some period of time. Certainly when we are active in recovery, maintenance or expansion I am quite strict in safety and procedures.

 

[The Man]

yes, the boat was at periscope depth. I think the idea is that the sub loses a lot of its maneuverability on the surface, and since 'rules of the road' says it has to give way to most of the other large ships crossing the straight at that time, the more maneuverability it has the better.

When at PD, many of the sonar arrays are useless. The cavitation from the Periscope and other antennae cause interference to the side arrays in the sail. The boat relies heavily on the periscope, and Electronic Surveillance at this time. Frequent sweeps of the area by the Officer of the Deck will update the contacts. The report stated that this was not being done.

So someone should have been looking through the periscope and the casual conversation of the sonar operators (prior to PD) might not have relayed all of the critical surface contacts effectively.

 

[Careyp74]

So someone should have been looking through the periscope and the casual conversation of the sonar operators (prior to PD) might not have relayed all of the critical surface contacts effectively.

Man, the more I think of it, the angrier I get at these idiots.

Along with the OOD doing his sweeps, I remember my boat would utilize a periscope operator, can't believe I forgot about that, since I had to relieve him for bathroom breaks. This had to be a requirement. Where was theirs?

There wasn't any mention of visibility, but I think it was dark out. They were aware of the ship, but misjudged its range and relative bearing. One more thing that adding a contact does is makes more work for Fire Control. The FC of the Watch tracks all of the contacts because he has the best equipment for it. I remember him being able to track most ships fairly well just from a bearing and estimated height, so there is no excuse for hitting something big.

I think I can name another tactical error. On the top of the periscope is the antenna for picking up electronic surveillance signals. All other ships radars would be heard on the system. There is a speaker and volume control out on the Con. A very close contact would give a very loud signal. The OOD probably turned the speaker off because it was interfering with his conversations. That is a no no. There is a watch stander in the radio room that monitors the ESM environment also, but he had his music going, so he wouldn't hear it.

 

[SnidelyW]

Although not in the Armed Forces, I work in a profession which has periods of boredom punctuated by moments of intensity where lives are on the line.

As a Fire Officer, I understand the fine line between keeping your teams motivated and alert but not so upset at you for enforcing protocol that they lose focus.

I agree with previous posters in their assessment that the CO of the boat has a responsibility to create a culture wherein performance at their work station is as natural as breathing, and the only real way to create that, IMO, is to ensure the Officers are accountable for personnel under their command, and so on down the rank structure.
Sometimes the mix of personalities can make this a difficult task, and the CO may not want to create a stressful situation, especially if all he wants to do is ensure he has a harmonious climate on the boat.

However, his first duty is to the optimal performance of the boat, and in this case, it's the old adage at work "It's all fun and games until someone loses an eye".

Lax operating protocols may sustain a comfortable working environment, but in this case, it seems the collision 'dominoes' were allowed to line up perfectly to fall.

 

[The Man]

Man, the more I think of it, the angrier I get at these idiots.

Along with the OOD doing his sweeps, I remember my boat would utilize a periscope operator, can't believe I forgot about that, since I had to relieve him for bathroom breaks. This had to be a requirement. Where was theirs?

There wasn't any mention of visibility, but I think it was dark out. They were aware of the ship, but misjudged its range and relative bearing. One more thing that adding a contact does is makes more work for Fire Control. The FC of the Watch tracks all of the contacts because he has the best equipment for it. I remember him being able to track most ships fairly well just from a bearing and estimated height, so there is no excuse for hitting something big.

I think I can name another tactical error. On the top of the periscope is the antenna for picking up electronic surveillance signals. All other ships radars would be heard on the system. There is a speaker and volume control out on the Con. A very close contact would give a very loud signal. The OOD probably turned the speaker off because it was interfering with his conversations. That is a no no. There is a watch stander in the radio room that monitors the ESM environment also, but he had his music going, so he wouldn't hear it.

Ah another aspect I had not considered electronic surveillance. When running at PD isn't the radar mast also deployable (just speculating from what I have seen in movies and TV)?

 

[The Man]

Although not in the Armed Forces, I work in a profession which has periods of boredom punctuated by moments of intensity where lives are on the line.

As a Fire Officer, I understand the fine line between keeping your teams motivated and alert but not so upset at you for enforcing protocol that they lose focus.

I agree with previous posters in their assessment that the CO of the boat has a responsibility to create a culture wherein performance at their work station is as natural as breathing, and the only real way to create that, IMO, is to ensure the Officers are accountable for personnel under their command, and so on down the rank structure.
Sometimes the mix of personalities can make this a difficult task, and the CO may not want to create a stressful situation, especially if all he wants to do is ensure he has a harmonious climate on the boat.

However, his first duty is to the optimal performance of the boat, and in this case, it's the old adage at work "It's all fun and games until someone loses an eye".

Lax operating protocols may sustain a comfortable working environment, but in this case, it seems the collision 'dominoes' were allowed to line up perfectly to fall.

Nice take on the situation SnidelyW. Had an equipment malfunction caused that crash that would be one thing, but this seems to be simply a malfunction of the working environment, the commander specifically and the duty officers directly.