Why a ‘special’ Seawolf-class submarine collided with an underwater mountain

What you need to know: In October 2021, the US Navy’s nuclear-powered submarine USS Connecticut collided with an uncharted seamount in the South China Sea, injuring 11 crew members. The Seawolf-class fast attack submarine was operating at high speed in poorly charted waters when the accident occurred.

-An investigation found that navigational errors, inadequate execution by the monitoring team and poor risk management were the main factors in the accident.

-The captain and two senior members of the crew were relieved of their duties following the incident. The collision highlights the challenges submarines face when navigating areas with many unexplored underwater obstacles, highlighting the need for meticulous planning and situational awareness.

Submarine vs. Underwater Mountain: Inside the USS Connecticut Incident

Three years ago this month, a US Navy nuclear-powered submarine collided with an “unexplored seamount” – also known as an underwater mountain. The USS Seawolf-class fast attack submarine Connecticut (SSN-22) struck a then-unidentified object in international waters in the South China Sea, causing moderate to minor injuries to 11 crew members.

At the time of the incident, SSN-22 had been on “intensive deployment” for five months and was apparently moving at high speed through waters that USNI News described as “poorly mapped.”

Following an investigation, the boat’s commanding officer, Commander Cameron Aljilani, Lieutenant Commander Patrick Cashin, and the boat’s commander, Chief Sonar Technician Cory Rodgers, were all removed from their positions.

“No action or inaction caused this incident, but it was preventable. It resulted from an accumulation of errors and omissions in navigation planning, surveillance team execution and risk management” , wrote Rear Admiral Christopher Cavanaugh, Maritime Headquarters, US Pacific Fleet. oversaw the command’s investigation.

“Careful decision-making and adherence to standards in any of these three areas could have prevented the grounding,” Cavanaugh added.

Yes, a submarine hit a mountain

There is no doubt that to some, the idea that a submarine could hit a mountain might seem like a joke or would make the headlines on April 1st. Yet such collisions are entirely rare and probably even impossible to avoid completely, as researchers believe there are more of them. more than 100,000 seamounts that rise more than 1,000 meters (about 3,300 feet) from the seafloor, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

“New estimates suggest that, taken together, seamounts cover approximately 28.8 million square kilometers of the Earth’s surface,” NOAA explained. “It’s larger than deserts, tundra or any other global terrestrial habitat on the planet.”

The vast majority of seamounts are the remains of extinct volcanoes and, as expected, most are “cone-shaped”, Ocean Exploration explained, but added that some seamounts “exhibit other important features such as craters and linear ridges and some, called guyots, have large, flat tops.”

More importantly, less than one-tenth of one percent of the planet’s seamounts have been explored in significant detail. Seamounts are also found in every ocean basin around the world. This makes it extremely difficult to navigate a submarine while trying to remain undetected.

This was the case of the USS Connecticut ” the experts suggested, as the boat navigated largely unknown waters while avoiding Chinese warships.

“You don’t have windows, you can’t see out,” Bryan Clark, who spent 25 years as a U.S. submariner, told Navy Times in November 2021. “You’re driving in the dark without having a very good view. image of what is happening in front of you.

The boat likely relied on its “passive” sonar, which allows the crew to “listen for ships, marine life or other obstacles,” but Clark noted that would mean giving up some of their “environmental awareness “. As passive sonar relies on obstacles that make noise, it would not alert the crew to the presence of a seamount.

The crew may not have taken the necessary precautions.

“At least one sailor detected sonar readings that did not match the navigation chart of the underwater area. However, the deck officer did not report the danger to the commanding officer of the Connecticut, who was not not in service at this time,” Stars and Stripes reported.

Could the accident have been avoided somehow?

Could the accident have been avoided? Probably, but that might have required using more than passive sonar and that might not have been an option.

“You don’t want to reveal your position unless you have to,” Clark added. “It gives you a very restricted area in which to operate.”

The location of the October 2021 incident was also a factor.

The South China Sea is known to be poorly studied and has few passable sea lanes. Its waters are also not particularly deep, further limiting the options for submarines to operate safely. The US Navy probably does not have detailed charts for the South China Sea, which would pose another problem for the service if Washington and Beijing come to blows!

Experience and expertise of the author: Peter Suciu

Peter Suciu is a writer based in Michigan. He has contributed to more than four dozen magazines, newspapers and websites with more than 3,200 articles published during a twenty-year career in journalism. He writes regularly on military hardware, firearms history, cybersecurity, politics, and international affairs. Peter is also a Contributing writer for Forbes and Liquidation Jobs. You can follow him on Twitter: @PeterSuciu. You can send an email to the author: (email protected).

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