USS San Fran Damage Pictures

MKSheppard · Post by **MKSheppard** » 2005-01-27 09:51am

Petrosjko · Post by **Petrosjko** » 2005-01-27 09:52am

*whistles*

Dayamn.

Is that a trick of the camera and water, or is it warped back of the bow toward where that guy is standing?

HemlockGrey · Post by **HemlockGrey** » 2005-01-27 10:08am

The hell happened to it?

El Moose Monstero · Post by **El Moose Monstero** » 2005-01-27 10:15am

It's the one that ran aground earlier in the month, I assume. Did we ever find out what exactly it ran aground on?

Iceberg · Post by **Iceberg** » 2005-01-27 10:16am

Wow, they grounded good and fucking hard.

Post by **Beowulf** » 2005-01-27 10:22am

The_Lumberjack wrote:It's the one that ran aground earlier in the month, I assume. Did we ever find out what exactly it ran aground on?

A seamount, now name the San Francisco Seamount.

Ma Deuce · Post by **Ma Deuce** » 2005-01-27 10:24am

The_Lumberjack wrote:It's the one that ran aground earlier in the month, I assume. Did we ever find out what exactly it ran aground on?

They said it was a seamount, and given it ran into it at about 30kts it's not surprising it took the entire nosecone off, which unlike the rest of the hull is made of glass-reinforced plastic to allow sound to pass through it, which of course is essential since the bow houses the main sonar array...

MKSheppard · Post by **MKSheppard** » 2005-01-27 11:42am

HIRES photo

Ma Deuce · Post by **Ma Deuce** » 2005-01-27 11:57am

Shit thats bad: I wonder if they're just going to scrap her rather than attempt to repair the damage?

Chardok · Post by **Chardok** » 2005-01-27 12:16pm

Ma Deuce wrote:Shit thats bad: I wonder if they're just going to scrap her rather than attempt to repair the damage?

I doubt they'll scrap the sub, but the skipper is done, man. Sheesh. That's fucking terrible.

Petrosjko · Post by **Petrosjko** » 2005-01-27 12:19pm

Can't scrap a good ship like that. She got her crew home.

MKSheppard · Post by **MKSheppard** » 2005-01-27 12:23pm

Actually, Stuart has done some extensive talking on this over on HPCA

I shall quoth him:

By and large, a dinged pressure hull can't be repaired very easily. The only way it can really be done is to cut the entire ring out and replace it. That costs so much, one might as well build a new boat. If they do a quick-and-dirty repair, the diving depth of the boat will be seriously compromised.

Falkenhayn · Post by **Falkenhayn** » 2005-01-27 01:16pm

Was the forward torpedo room compromised at all?

Ma Deuce · Post by **Ma Deuce** » 2005-01-27 01:56pm

Falkenhayn wrote:Was the forward torpedo room compromised at all?

Doesn't look like it: you can see the torpedo tube doors in the last pic, and the the doors are ahead of the torpedo room: the damage doesn't quite go back as far as the aft end of the doors. The torpedo room is also the farthest forward inhabited compartment: ahead of that is just the forward ballast tanks and the sonar array... (on the Flight 2 and 3 versions of the Los Angeles class, the forward ballast tanks also contain 12 vertical launch tubes for Tomahawk cruise missiles: the San Francisco is a Flight 1 boat, and thus doesn't have the VLS tubes)

Ma Deuce · Post by **Ma Deuce** » 2005-01-27 02:05pm

Here's another pic of the sub in drydock...

Falkenhayn · Post by **Falkenhayn** » 2005-01-27 02:50pm

Ma Deuce wrote:Here's another pic of the sub in drydock...

I will not quote pictures

No specialist in metallurgy or sub design, but assuming that bulge is impact damage, everything forward of it would have to be sawn off and replaced.

I've heard of ships in World War II having new bows put on, but those were oil fired surface warships obviously.

Admiral Valdemar · Post by **Admiral Valdemar** » 2005-01-27 03:01pm

The pressure hull looks to be compromised if that damage is as extensive as it seems. I wouldn't want to go at operational depth without some proper testing and patching up, but as that would require essentially the whole bow being overhauled, I doubt it's going to happen.

Looks like her captain just signed an early retirement form. What a waste.

Falkenhayn · Post by **Falkenhayn** » 2005-01-27 03:28pm

Well, there's room for one more Virginia on the Navy Rolls now.

Stormbringer · Post by **Stormbringer** » 2005-01-27 03:35pm

Falkenhayn wrote:
Ma Deuce wrote:Here's another pic of the sub in drydock...

Ouch
No specialist in metallurgy or sub design, but assuming that bulge is impact damage, everything forward of it would have to be sawn off and replaced.

I've heard of ships in World War II having new bows put on, but those were oil fired surface warships obviously.

I'm no expert but it look like that bulge is something built in. If it were bukling it would probably distort the anechoic tiles (or whatever those are) and there doesn't seem to be any evidence of that.

And yes, there have been instances of ships being patched together from parts. The Brits and the US have both rebuilt destroyers from halves of otherwise ruined ships. And of course one of the most famous examples is the replacing of the bow of USS Wisconsin with the bow of her never to be completed sistership USS Kentucky.

Stormbringer · Post by **Stormbringer** » 2005-01-27 03:36pm

Falkenhayn wrote:Well, there's room for one more Virginia on the Navy Rolls now.

Quite probably. She's smashed pretty damn good from the looks out it. The question that will determine her fate is whether the pressure hull is breached.

Marksist · Post by **Marksist** » 2005-01-27 04:15pm

What caused the sub to run aground? I don't recall ever finding out why this happened in the sub thread from a while ago.

Burak Gazan · Post by **Burak Gazan** » 2005-01-27 04:43pm

Man, thats not pretty

Look at the scuff mark down her port side too, looks like when she bounced off the initial impact she slid along the top/edge of the seabottom/seamount. This is one lucky crew , and a big <S> to the guys who built her this tough.

Patrick Degan · Post by **Patrick Degan** » 2005-01-27 04:43pm

The Frisco ran into an uncharted seamount. Not quite the captain's fault but he's going to lose his career over it anyway. The fact that he brought his boat back with the crew intact may mitigate for him somewhat, but essentially he can forget about ever going to sea again or wearing an Admiral's star.

From what I see in the photos, it looks as if the forward pressure bulkhead is intact, but if it's been deformed even if there wasn't a breach, the boat may be unsalvagable for further service; at least not without a major reconstruction job and as has been pointed out it may be easier and cheaper simply to build a new sub.

Post by **LadyTevar** » 2005-01-27 04:49pm

I'm still wondering how it ran into a seamount, period. Wouldn't sonar have bounced off the seamount and told them *something* was there, uncharted or not?