Keeping the blogosphere posted on the goings on of the world of submarines since late 2004... and mocking and belittling general foolishness wherever it may be found. Idaho's first and foremost submarine blog. (If you don't like something on this blog, please E-mail me; don't call me at home.)

Tuesday, October 03, 2006

There Shall Be Groundings And Rumors Of Groundings

Here at TSSBP, I normally try to avoid posting single-source rumors -- except for tonight when submarine news is slow. This one really doesn't pass the smell test (as far as this being something the Navy wouldn't announce), so I don't think it's true, but here goes...

Over at the military.com submarine discussion board, "Mack the Knife" posts:
Unbelievable - the stellar crew of the USS Texas managed to run it aground at Port Canaveral! I have two emailed pictures of tugs pulling her off of the mud - about 20 yards from a grassy bank. Looks like someone's back yard. (Little bike path, little 'grassy knoll' veeeery close aboard). Haven't figured out how to post 'em. The caption says "...nothing was damaged, except some egos..." Um, try a 4-striper's career!
Some of you may remember how I have decried the loss of basic seamanship skills in today's submarine force. Here is another prime example. I know we are talking about littoral tasks for submarines - but this is ludicrous.
I wonder if Cat Futch....nahhh.
As I said, I don't necessarily believe this is for real, but if anyone happens to have the pictures they're talking about, I'd love to see them...

Update 2252 03 October: Speaking of USS Texas, I was looking through some of the other posts on the Military.com Submarine discussion board, and came across one item that I hadn't noticed earlier. From the Navy NewsStand article about Texas' commissioning:
U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, a Galveston native, said her hometown has had strong historical ties to the Navy. The city was the homeport to the Texas navy that fought for independence from Mexico, she said, and is home to USS Seawolf (SS 197), a decommissioned World War II submarine.
[Emphasis mine] As "edclark65" points out:
I'm sure I'll not be the first to point out to the Senator that the USS Seawolf (SS 197), went down with all hands during WWII. There is a USS Seawolf (SS 197) memorial abeam the bow of the USS Texas (BB35) in San Jacento, and there is the USS Cavalla (SSK 212) and the destroyer escort Stewart (DE 238) at Seawolf Park. USS Cavalla is a memorial to the USS Seawolf. Each state has been designated a lost submarine crew to perpetuate. Texas was assigned the USS Seawolf (SS197) which was lost on October 3, 1944 with all hands--83 men and officers including 17 U.S. Army Rangers that were in transit to the Philippines.
I discussed the effort to get WWII submarine monuments in each state here.

Update 0634 04 Oct: I'm wondering if this is the picture the original poster I discussed was talking about:

If this is the picture he was talking about, then, as Emily Litella used to say: "Never mind".

Bell-ringer 1944 04 Oct: Based on MT1(SS)'s comment below, I think we can safely say that, in fact, Texas did not run aground in PCAN.

3 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Looks like edclark is offbase too, Cavalla is not "SSK-212", she is SSK-244.

10/04/2006 8:58 AM

 
Blogger Dale Courtney said...

I've driven subs out of PCAN many times. It's one of the easiest ports to get in/out of.

I cannot imagine that she gounded there.

Best,
Dale

10/04/2006 9:31 PM

 
Blogger submandave said...

Agree with dale. Going in is a left and a right. Going out the tugs turn you around in the basin (what may be happening here) and then it's another left and right. Plus, the speed limit is about five kts if I remember right to avoid disturbing the manataes.

Now, if they had a picture of the Texas wrapped arounf Drum Island in Chas. I'd believe that.

10/10/2006 2:45 PM

 

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