USS Philadelphia Returns Home

USS Philadelphia (SSN 690), which was involved in a collision with the Turkish M/V Yaso Aysen in the Arabian Gulf in September, returned home to Groton today. On the same day, the Squadron Deputy who had taken over command when the CO was fired turned the boat over to her new, permanent CO. Captain Brennan, the emergency CO, discussed the boat's material condition thusly:

"She obviously came 8,000 miles back so she does everything she needs to do and was able to answer the bell and accomplish all tasks," said Brennan, who commended the crew Wednesday for its performance after the accident. He said the submarine suffered minor damage to the deck, rudder and stern that will require about a week of repair work. Navy officials said they're not sure where they'll send the submarine for final repairs."

I earlier discussed various aspects of the Philly collision (in reverse chronological order) here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.

Welcome home, guys... and here's hoping you don't get screwed out of the I & I you deserve.

Going deep...

Update 0635 17 Nov: Here's the article on the homecoming from The New London Day (will require registration after today). Excerpt:

"The Philadelphia's interim commanding officer, Capt. Robert Brennan, said the Sept. 5 collision with the freighter in Bahrain was a “tough day for the ship” but added that the crew performed flawlessly on the 8,000-mile journey back to Groton.
“They're all professionals,” he said. “They were never nervous. The crew's morale was really high.”
"Brennan said the damage to the sub was modest and didn't jeopardize the crew's safety or affect its ability to conduct some operations during its deployment. The sub had left the Groton base on June 10." [Emphasis mine]

I'm wondering if they ended up having to the whole return trip on the surface. My initial guess would be "no", but then again I don't know exactly how bad the damage was.