Rhino
03-09-2001, 04:36 AM
The RANDy Corporation
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(2/10/01 1:08:37 pm)
| Del All
Navy guys: Answer me this
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Can't our subs tell if they are under a boat, or what??
************
Feb 10, 2001 - 04:31 AM
Nine Remain Missing After U.S. Sub Hits Japanese Fishing Boat
By Jaymes Song
Associated Press Writer
HONOLULU (AP) - Rescue crews held out hope that they would find nine people whose fishing vessel sank to the bottom of the Pacific Ocean after colliding with a nuclear-powered attack submarine. Twenty-six survivors stranded amid the debris and covered with diesel fuel from the crash were brought to shore.
The USS Greeneville came up under the 180-foot boat, ripping the engine room open and causing two resounding booms. Seconds later, water flooded the vessel, sinking it within minutes, said a Coast Guard translator describing the Friday collision nine miles south of Waikiki.
"Most of the people were below deck in the rooms or galley," said Petty Officer Michael Carr, who interviewed the survivors. "After the lights went out, everyone started yelling that the water is coming into the ship. That's when most of the people we saw started fleeing."
The boat carried 20 crew members, two teachers and 13 students from the Uwajima Fisheries High School in the southwestern Japanese state of Ehime. The missing included four high school students, two teachers and three crew members.
The boat, the Ehime Maru, left Japan on Jan. 10 to hunt for tuna, swordfish and shark.
The Navy and Coast Guard hoped to find people clinging to the wreckage. "We found some debris earlier today, but no sign of survivors yet," said Coast Guard spokesman Lt. Greg Fondran.
The survivors huddled in three life rafts before being rescued. Petty Officer Thomas Kron, who was on the Coast Guard patrol boat, said the survivors were soaked with diesel fuel that spilled when the boat sank.
"They seemed like they were in shock. They were fatigued by the time we got there. Some of them were seasick and some of them were glad to see us," he said.
The survivors were taken to the Coast Guard station at Honolulu Harbor's Sand Island. Some walked off on their own; others were carried on stretchers and covered in blankets.
Fondran said none appeared to be seriously injured. A wounded shoulder appeared to be the worst injury, he said.
Twelve were taken to local hospitals for treatment of minor injuries while 14 were cared for at the base, including showers to wash off the fuel, he said.
Dressed in blue jump suits, the survivors lined up to use the single phone available to them at the base, to let their families in Japan know that they were safe.
Japanese officials said they were scrambling to coordinate a response to the accident.
"It's a bit chaotic right now," said Uwajima municipal official Masanori Mori. "There's a great deal of shock."
Mori said the Ehime Prefectural government had set up a crisis center to assist families and cull information on the accident.
The Greeneville was not damaged, Navy spokeswoman Lt. Cmdr. Cate Mueller said in Washington. It was not immediately known how many crew members were aboard the Greeneville, a Pearl Harbor-based sub that is equipped with Tomahawk cruise missiles.
Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori said the United States had apologized.
"The United States extended its apologies and promised utmost efforts to find the missing," Mori said.
"It's important to say the Navy regrets this unfortunate incident," said Cmdr. Bruce Cole, a spokesman for the Pacific Fleet. "We're very concerned about the families and friends of those for whom we search."
He said it is not known why the submarine surfaced under the vessel. Cole promised a full investigation.
The Greeneville was commissioned in February 1996. It is 360 feet long, has a diameter of 33 feet and displaces 6,900 tons submerged.
The crash is the second major accident involving a Navy vessel near Hawaii in seven months. The USS Denver, a 570-foot amphibious transport dock ship, was preparing to receive fuel from the USNS Yukon, a Military Sealift Command oiler, when the two vessels collided.
No one was injured, but the 677-foot Yukon sustained heavy damage to its right side and the Denver had a 25-foot-deep gash in its bow.
------------ Joshua 24:15
tacitus c
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posts: 903
(2/10/01 2:06:46 pm)
| Del Re: Navy guys: Answer me this
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Any sewerpipe sailors out there??
My expertise is filling sandbags with the Marines.
"No man can establish himself by wickedness,but good men have roots that cannot be dislodged" Proverbs 11:3
The Sonarman
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posts: 198
(2/10/01 8:49:26 pm)
| Del
Re: Navy guys: Answer me this
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Howdy Tacitus and The RANDy Corporation
Yes.... I am (was) a bubblehead (re: sewerpipe sailor, re: submariner).
To Randy's question.... yes.... SOP (Standard Operating Procedures) are check with Sonar for any contacts BEFORE approaching the surface. Then.... the skipper (or whoever else has the Conn) is supposed to check all around with the Periscope for any contacts. Then, and ONLY then, is the submarine to surface. There is one exception.... if the sub is doing an emergency surface, but I doubt if that is the case here.
Truthfully, I don't know anything more about this story, yet. If I were to speculate, I'd say the CO did NOT have the Conn, some junior officer did, and they flubbed it BIG time. Also.... the Navy officers involved (likely the sonar gang as well) is completely responsible. I hate to be "condemning my own", but that's the way it is. They screwed up BIG time.
As to people being "lost" at sea (some 10 last I heard).... some of them will be dead and gone. The sea is one malignant, hostile bitch of an environment. It is only too easy to drownd, and the sea is "patient".... it's always waiting to take sailors away (of any country).
As to a sub being able to "sink" a ship in this way.... yes, that is only too possible and likely. These days, if a ship were to intentionally ram a sub, the ship would sink. The subs have such stout hulls.... it would barely damage the sub's pressure hull.... although it would rip the ship to shreds. The old WW2 movies of ships "ramming" subs and sinking them is long past.
Qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum (Epitoma rei militaris, Prologue, 3)
Edited by: The Sonarman at: 2/10/01 8:58:24 pm
tacitus c
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| Del Re: Navy guys: Answer me this
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SONAR
Thanks for the info. Perhaps a CO & XO will be standing tall soon to explain what happened.
"No man can establish himself by wickedness,but good men have roots that cannot be dislodged" Proverbs 11:3
The RANDy Corporation
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posts: 219
(2/11/01 1:11:54 pm)
| Del
another dumb question
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sonarman: thanks very much for the info. One more dumb question. It is such a cliche (Star Trek) I hate to ask but when Captain Kirk goes off the bridge and tells Sulu he "has the conn", what does that mean? Connnntrol??
------------ Joshua 24:15
The RANDy Corporation
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posts: 226
(2/11/01 2:00:21 pm)
| Del
New info
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sonarman: This dove's w/ what you said about an emergency ascent above. But still, if you are going to practice that aren't you gonna make sure the area is clear?
************
Sub was practicing emergency drill, Navy says
Saturday, 10 February 2001 21:27 (ET)
Sub was practicing emergency drill, Navy says
WASHINGTON, Feb. 10 (UPI) - The U.S. Navy submarine that struck and sank a
Japanese training ship Friday off Honolulu was practicing an emergency
ascent maneuver at the time of the incident, authorities said Saturday.
Adm. Tom Fargo, commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, said in Hawaii said the maneuver, in which the ballast tanks are quickly emptied to send the
vessel shooting towards the surface was "an operation that we do on a
regular basis" for demonstration and to check the systems are operating
properly. . . .
More: www.vny.com/cf/News/upide...QID=159165 (http://www.vny.com/cf/News/upide...QID=159165)
------------ Joshua 24:15
The Sonarman
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posts: 202
(2/11/01 2:20:39 pm)
| Del
Question
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sonarman: "when Captain Kirk goes off the bridge and tells Sulu he "has the conn", what does that mean? Connnntrol??"
"Conn" means "Conning Tower" (in subs). In Star Trek it means "The Bridge" (ie the place where the vessel is controlled and piloted from).... Conn-trol is about a close as I can guess (I'm not certain). I'm not 100% certain what Conn means in the series, but this I do know: He (Kirk) is turning over (temporary) control to a junior officer, making that junior officer responsible for piloting and commanding the ship, while the CO (Kirk) is absent.
Also.... you might notice the CO (ie. Kirk) isn't required to be piloting the vessel continuously. The CO (hopefully) has a couple trained officers who can do this in his absence. Of course, if they screw up, his butt fries at the Court Martial, as well, even if he wasn't present during an accident. He is responsible and accountable, even though he might not have been directly involved.
Qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum (Epitoma rei militaris, Prologue, 3)
Edited by: The Sonarman at: 2/11/01 2:26:16 pm
The Sonarman
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posts: 203
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| Del
Re: Question
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Drills are drills, of course, but one does NOT throw aside normal safety precautions, even in a PRACTICE emergency ascent. The normal safety precautions are only thrown aside in a real emergency, or wartime.
The Sub is 100% at fault, unless they were in a REAL emergency. A practice ascent is NOT going to exonerate them. Likely, they have killed one or more of the people on that ship. I don't know..... I've been hard at business things for weeks.... and I'm sort of cloistered on World Events right now (other than the printed reports I read in the chat site).
Yes, Tacitus.... I fully expect there's a couple officers who's careers are finito, and rightly so. The CO, certainly. If some other officer had the Conn, their career is over, too. The responsibility these men have (and yes.... there are Zero US female submariners) is great, but that's the way these things work. You don't kill people with impunity.... especially civilians.... in the military.
When we did this routine (and we did it fairly regularly), we first made certain (by a quick look around by sonar and the CO at the periscope) that no vessels were around to at least the visual horizon (periscope) and that no one was close on sonar, either. Then, we dove to the target depth to start the excersize, and did the emergency blow (ie. emergency ascent). This is not enough time for another vessel to sail into the operational area.
One blows the ballast tanks completely, comes to flank speed (all the propulsion power she's got), and "up angles" on the diving planes. They give it all they've got... engine power, up angle diving planes, blown ballast tanks. Usually, the sub breaks completely free of the surface and "broaches"... the speed and positive buoyancy (of fully blown tanks) is so great. A "broach" is something similar to the humpback whales coming about halfway out of the water, then slamming back into the ocean.
The ONLY time one throws out the precautions normally taken is during a REAL emergency, when you either get the sub to the surface fast, or if you don't, everyone aboard dies. It isn't something done lightly, but it has to be done extremely fast.
I hope this is what you wanted to know.... I sometimes ramble off subject....
Best Regards.
Qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum (Epitoma rei militaris, Prologue, 3)
Edited by: The Sonarman at: 2/11/01 2:45:22 pm
The RANDy Corporation
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posts: 230
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| Del
Thanks
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I really appreciate it. Thanks for all the time you took to fully explain.
------------ Joshua 24:15
The Sonarman
Forum Host
posts: 210
(2/12/01 9:42:20 pm)
| Del
Re: Thanks
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
No problem. It's a bad thing that happened.... and someone is going to take some serious lumps over it. Rightfully so. The Navy has always come down hard on officers who run ships aground, or ram other ships, etc.
I'm starting to wonder if the Navy is now a bunch of undisciplined wackos. We checked meticulously when we were doing a training op (such as the emergency ascent). The ocean is "a big place", but so is the sky, and planes collide, too.
Anyway, it almost sounds like I'm going to have to reenlist.... and kick the Navy's butt into shape, single handed.
Qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum (Epitoma rei militaris, Prologue, 3)
Edited by: The Sonarman at: 2/12/01 9:48:24 pm
The Sonarman
Forum Host
posts: 217
(2/13/01 12:21:25 pm)
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Re: Thanks
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Addendum,
I just spoke with two of my ex-Navy bubblehead buddies. One of those guys was an officer who spent 20 years on boats (ie. primarily concerned with sub ops, conning, etc.) and the other is another ex-sonarman like me.
They concur with my conclusions, and the three of us also agreed on the following scenario.
The "only way" the sub could have screwed up is if they had NOT did a sweep of the baffles, prior to the exercize (ie. emergency blow), AND they furthermore didn't do a sweep at PD (periscope depth) immediately prior to the exercize.
The "baffles" are the area directly behind the forward sonar domes, that tend to isolate the subs propulsion and propellor noise from interfering with sonar. The propellors and propulsion systems are noisy, and tend to "mask" contacts that are behind the vessel (surface warships, also). The problem with this is.... the sonar gang can't "hear" contacts that are behind the sub.... unless Conn steers the sub to "unmask" the baffles (ie. turn the sub around to "look" behind). This is standard procedure.
If the sub had indeed did a periscope sweep, as prescribed, they might have been screwing around for 30 minutes or so before they did the exercize. As we understand, this was a "showing off" exercize to impress their guests along for the ride.
Other than that, we do sympathize with the sailors involved (on both sides).
Qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum (Epitoma rei militaris, Prologue, 3)
Forum Host
posts: 213
(2/10/01 1:08:37 pm)
| Del All
Navy guys: Answer me this
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Can't our subs tell if they are under a boat, or what??
************
Feb 10, 2001 - 04:31 AM
Nine Remain Missing After U.S. Sub Hits Japanese Fishing Boat
By Jaymes Song
Associated Press Writer
HONOLULU (AP) - Rescue crews held out hope that they would find nine people whose fishing vessel sank to the bottom of the Pacific Ocean after colliding with a nuclear-powered attack submarine. Twenty-six survivors stranded amid the debris and covered with diesel fuel from the crash were brought to shore.
The USS Greeneville came up under the 180-foot boat, ripping the engine room open and causing two resounding booms. Seconds later, water flooded the vessel, sinking it within minutes, said a Coast Guard translator describing the Friday collision nine miles south of Waikiki.
"Most of the people were below deck in the rooms or galley," said Petty Officer Michael Carr, who interviewed the survivors. "After the lights went out, everyone started yelling that the water is coming into the ship. That's when most of the people we saw started fleeing."
The boat carried 20 crew members, two teachers and 13 students from the Uwajima Fisheries High School in the southwestern Japanese state of Ehime. The missing included four high school students, two teachers and three crew members.
The boat, the Ehime Maru, left Japan on Jan. 10 to hunt for tuna, swordfish and shark.
The Navy and Coast Guard hoped to find people clinging to the wreckage. "We found some debris earlier today, but no sign of survivors yet," said Coast Guard spokesman Lt. Greg Fondran.
The survivors huddled in three life rafts before being rescued. Petty Officer Thomas Kron, who was on the Coast Guard patrol boat, said the survivors were soaked with diesel fuel that spilled when the boat sank.
"They seemed like they were in shock. They were fatigued by the time we got there. Some of them were seasick and some of them were glad to see us," he said.
The survivors were taken to the Coast Guard station at Honolulu Harbor's Sand Island. Some walked off on their own; others were carried on stretchers and covered in blankets.
Fondran said none appeared to be seriously injured. A wounded shoulder appeared to be the worst injury, he said.
Twelve were taken to local hospitals for treatment of minor injuries while 14 were cared for at the base, including showers to wash off the fuel, he said.
Dressed in blue jump suits, the survivors lined up to use the single phone available to them at the base, to let their families in Japan know that they were safe.
Japanese officials said they were scrambling to coordinate a response to the accident.
"It's a bit chaotic right now," said Uwajima municipal official Masanori Mori. "There's a great deal of shock."
Mori said the Ehime Prefectural government had set up a crisis center to assist families and cull information on the accident.
The Greeneville was not damaged, Navy spokeswoman Lt. Cmdr. Cate Mueller said in Washington. It was not immediately known how many crew members were aboard the Greeneville, a Pearl Harbor-based sub that is equipped with Tomahawk cruise missiles.
Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori said the United States had apologized.
"The United States extended its apologies and promised utmost efforts to find the missing," Mori said.
"It's important to say the Navy regrets this unfortunate incident," said Cmdr. Bruce Cole, a spokesman for the Pacific Fleet. "We're very concerned about the families and friends of those for whom we search."
He said it is not known why the submarine surfaced under the vessel. Cole promised a full investigation.
The Greeneville was commissioned in February 1996. It is 360 feet long, has a diameter of 33 feet and displaces 6,900 tons submerged.
The crash is the second major accident involving a Navy vessel near Hawaii in seven months. The USS Denver, a 570-foot amphibious transport dock ship, was preparing to receive fuel from the USNS Yukon, a Military Sealift Command oiler, when the two vessels collided.
No one was injured, but the 677-foot Yukon sustained heavy damage to its right side and the Denver had a 25-foot-deep gash in its bow.
------------ Joshua 24:15
tacitus c
Forum Host
posts: 903
(2/10/01 2:06:46 pm)
| Del Re: Navy guys: Answer me this
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Any sewerpipe sailors out there??
My expertise is filling sandbags with the Marines.
"No man can establish himself by wickedness,but good men have roots that cannot be dislodged" Proverbs 11:3
The Sonarman
Forum Host
posts: 198
(2/10/01 8:49:26 pm)
| Del
Re: Navy guys: Answer me this
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Howdy Tacitus and The RANDy Corporation
Yes.... I am (was) a bubblehead (re: sewerpipe sailor, re: submariner).
To Randy's question.... yes.... SOP (Standard Operating Procedures) are check with Sonar for any contacts BEFORE approaching the surface. Then.... the skipper (or whoever else has the Conn) is supposed to check all around with the Periscope for any contacts. Then, and ONLY then, is the submarine to surface. There is one exception.... if the sub is doing an emergency surface, but I doubt if that is the case here.
Truthfully, I don't know anything more about this story, yet. If I were to speculate, I'd say the CO did NOT have the Conn, some junior officer did, and they flubbed it BIG time. Also.... the Navy officers involved (likely the sonar gang as well) is completely responsible. I hate to be "condemning my own", but that's the way it is. They screwed up BIG time.
As to people being "lost" at sea (some 10 last I heard).... some of them will be dead and gone. The sea is one malignant, hostile bitch of an environment. It is only too easy to drownd, and the sea is "patient".... it's always waiting to take sailors away (of any country).
As to a sub being able to "sink" a ship in this way.... yes, that is only too possible and likely. These days, if a ship were to intentionally ram a sub, the ship would sink. The subs have such stout hulls.... it would barely damage the sub's pressure hull.... although it would rip the ship to shreds. The old WW2 movies of ships "ramming" subs and sinking them is long past.
Qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum (Epitoma rei militaris, Prologue, 3)
Edited by: The Sonarman at: 2/10/01 8:58:24 pm
tacitus c
Forum Host
posts: 920
(2/10/01 11:04:25 pm)
| Del Re: Navy guys: Answer me this
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SONAR
Thanks for the info. Perhaps a CO & XO will be standing tall soon to explain what happened.
"No man can establish himself by wickedness,but good men have roots that cannot be dislodged" Proverbs 11:3
The RANDy Corporation
Forum Host
posts: 219
(2/11/01 1:11:54 pm)
| Del
another dumb question
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sonarman: thanks very much for the info. One more dumb question. It is such a cliche (Star Trek) I hate to ask but when Captain Kirk goes off the bridge and tells Sulu he "has the conn", what does that mean? Connnntrol??
------------ Joshua 24:15
The RANDy Corporation
Forum Host
posts: 226
(2/11/01 2:00:21 pm)
| Del
New info
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sonarman: This dove's w/ what you said about an emergency ascent above. But still, if you are going to practice that aren't you gonna make sure the area is clear?
************
Sub was practicing emergency drill, Navy says
Saturday, 10 February 2001 21:27 (ET)
Sub was practicing emergency drill, Navy says
WASHINGTON, Feb. 10 (UPI) - The U.S. Navy submarine that struck and sank a
Japanese training ship Friday off Honolulu was practicing an emergency
ascent maneuver at the time of the incident, authorities said Saturday.
Adm. Tom Fargo, commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, said in Hawaii said the maneuver, in which the ballast tanks are quickly emptied to send the
vessel shooting towards the surface was "an operation that we do on a
regular basis" for demonstration and to check the systems are operating
properly. . . .
More: www.vny.com/cf/News/upide...QID=159165 (http://www.vny.com/cf/News/upide...QID=159165)
------------ Joshua 24:15
The Sonarman
Forum Host
posts: 202
(2/11/01 2:20:39 pm)
| Del
Question
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sonarman: "when Captain Kirk goes off the bridge and tells Sulu he "has the conn", what does that mean? Connnntrol??"
"Conn" means "Conning Tower" (in subs). In Star Trek it means "The Bridge" (ie the place where the vessel is controlled and piloted from).... Conn-trol is about a close as I can guess (I'm not certain). I'm not 100% certain what Conn means in the series, but this I do know: He (Kirk) is turning over (temporary) control to a junior officer, making that junior officer responsible for piloting and commanding the ship, while the CO (Kirk) is absent.
Also.... you might notice the CO (ie. Kirk) isn't required to be piloting the vessel continuously. The CO (hopefully) has a couple trained officers who can do this in his absence. Of course, if they screw up, his butt fries at the Court Martial, as well, even if he wasn't present during an accident. He is responsible and accountable, even though he might not have been directly involved.
Qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum (Epitoma rei militaris, Prologue, 3)
Edited by: The Sonarman at: 2/11/01 2:26:16 pm
The Sonarman
Forum Host
posts: 203
(2/11/01 2:40:24 pm)
| Del
Re: Question
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Drills are drills, of course, but one does NOT throw aside normal safety precautions, even in a PRACTICE emergency ascent. The normal safety precautions are only thrown aside in a real emergency, or wartime.
The Sub is 100% at fault, unless they were in a REAL emergency. A practice ascent is NOT going to exonerate them. Likely, they have killed one or more of the people on that ship. I don't know..... I've been hard at business things for weeks.... and I'm sort of cloistered on World Events right now (other than the printed reports I read in the chat site).
Yes, Tacitus.... I fully expect there's a couple officers who's careers are finito, and rightly so. The CO, certainly. If some other officer had the Conn, their career is over, too. The responsibility these men have (and yes.... there are Zero US female submariners) is great, but that's the way these things work. You don't kill people with impunity.... especially civilians.... in the military.
When we did this routine (and we did it fairly regularly), we first made certain (by a quick look around by sonar and the CO at the periscope) that no vessels were around to at least the visual horizon (periscope) and that no one was close on sonar, either. Then, we dove to the target depth to start the excersize, and did the emergency blow (ie. emergency ascent). This is not enough time for another vessel to sail into the operational area.
One blows the ballast tanks completely, comes to flank speed (all the propulsion power she's got), and "up angles" on the diving planes. They give it all they've got... engine power, up angle diving planes, blown ballast tanks. Usually, the sub breaks completely free of the surface and "broaches"... the speed and positive buoyancy (of fully blown tanks) is so great. A "broach" is something similar to the humpback whales coming about halfway out of the water, then slamming back into the ocean.
The ONLY time one throws out the precautions normally taken is during a REAL emergency, when you either get the sub to the surface fast, or if you don't, everyone aboard dies. It isn't something done lightly, but it has to be done extremely fast.
I hope this is what you wanted to know.... I sometimes ramble off subject....
Best Regards.
Qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum (Epitoma rei militaris, Prologue, 3)
Edited by: The Sonarman at: 2/11/01 2:45:22 pm
The RANDy Corporation
Forum Host
posts: 230
(2/11/01 4:25:09 pm)
| Del
Thanks
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I really appreciate it. Thanks for all the time you took to fully explain.
------------ Joshua 24:15
The Sonarman
Forum Host
posts: 210
(2/12/01 9:42:20 pm)
| Del
Re: Thanks
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
No problem. It's a bad thing that happened.... and someone is going to take some serious lumps over it. Rightfully so. The Navy has always come down hard on officers who run ships aground, or ram other ships, etc.
I'm starting to wonder if the Navy is now a bunch of undisciplined wackos. We checked meticulously when we were doing a training op (such as the emergency ascent). The ocean is "a big place", but so is the sky, and planes collide, too.
Anyway, it almost sounds like I'm going to have to reenlist.... and kick the Navy's butt into shape, single handed.
Qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum (Epitoma rei militaris, Prologue, 3)
Edited by: The Sonarman at: 2/12/01 9:48:24 pm
The Sonarman
Forum Host
posts: 217
(2/13/01 12:21:25 pm)
| Del
Re: Thanks
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Addendum,
I just spoke with two of my ex-Navy bubblehead buddies. One of those guys was an officer who spent 20 years on boats (ie. primarily concerned with sub ops, conning, etc.) and the other is another ex-sonarman like me.
They concur with my conclusions, and the three of us also agreed on the following scenario.
The "only way" the sub could have screwed up is if they had NOT did a sweep of the baffles, prior to the exercize (ie. emergency blow), AND they furthermore didn't do a sweep at PD (periscope depth) immediately prior to the exercize.
The "baffles" are the area directly behind the forward sonar domes, that tend to isolate the subs propulsion and propellor noise from interfering with sonar. The propellors and propulsion systems are noisy, and tend to "mask" contacts that are behind the vessel (surface warships, also). The problem with this is.... the sonar gang can't "hear" contacts that are behind the sub.... unless Conn steers the sub to "unmask" the baffles (ie. turn the sub around to "look" behind). This is standard procedure.
If the sub had indeed did a periscope sweep, as prescribed, they might have been screwing around for 30 minutes or so before they did the exercize. As we understand, this was a "showing off" exercize to impress their guests along for the ride.
Other than that, we do sympathize with the sailors involved (on both sides).
Qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum (Epitoma rei militaris, Prologue, 3)