U.S. Navy to launch court of inquiry in sub accident

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HONOLULU, Hawaii (CNN) -- A U.S. Navy court of inquiry will meet this week to investigate the collision between a U.S. submarine and a Japanese fishing vessel that left nine missing.

The investigation will focus on three top officers of the USS Greeneville. The nuclear-powered submarine was conducting an emergency surfacing drill February 9 off Hawaii when it hit the fisheries training ship Ehime Maru. The inquiry could recommend a court-martial for the submarine's officers.

RESOURCES Names of civilians on board the USS Greeneville during collision    IN-DEPTH Collision at sea  • Key facts  • Look inside the sub  • Sub-ship size comparison  • How a submarine works  • Description of ascent maneuver    RESOURCES Learn more about the U.S. Navy's Unmanned Vehicle Detachment (UMV)    VIDEO CNN's Gary Tuchman reports on the upcoming investigation of the three top officers of the USS Greeneville (February 18) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media) CNN's Martin Savidge reports on how the U.S. Navy located the sunken ship (February 17) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media) A chiropractor who went on the Greeneville in 1997 shows his home video of the journey (February 16) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media) The first officer of the boat sunk by the sub talks about his ordeal (February 16) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)    RESOURCE Recent incidents have strained US-Japanese relations    AUDIO Hear the distress call issed by the Navy after the collision 1.7Mb/20 sec. AIFF or WAV sound (Transcript)    LINK Demonstration of a Navy submarine's emergency surface

At a news conference Saturday, Adm. Thomas Fargo, commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, said the court of inquiry is a formal hearing and the Navy's highest form of administrative investigation.

"I expect this court to convene on or about Thursday the 22nd of February in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii," Fargo said.

The Greeneville's commanding officer, Cmdr. Scott Waddle ; the executive officer, Lt. Cmdr. Gerald Pfeifer; and the officer of the deck at the time of the accident, Lt. j.g. Michael Coen, will be the subjects of the inquiry.

"They will be afforded their due process rights, including the right to be represented by counsel," Fargo said.

A preliminary report by the U.S. military was expected in the next few days, according to Pentagon officials.

The court of three Navy officers will make recommendations to Fargo based on what is heard in court, and Fargo will ultimately decide what will happen to the members of the sub crew. The Navy also has invited Japan to send a Japanese naval officer to participate as an adviser.

The Ehime Maru, which was carrying fisheries students on an educational trip, sank within minutes of the collision. Of the 35 people aboard, 26 were rescued. The rest -- four 17-year-old students from the Uwajima Fisheries High School, two of their instructors and three of the ship's crew -- are feared dead.

Japanese urge Navy to raise vessel

In Japan, meanwhile, the top official of the students' home territory urged the United States to raise the sunken Ehime Maru.

Most of the nine missing are from the coastal city of Uwajima, in Ehime prefecture, on the Japanese island of Shikoku. Prefecture Gov. Moriyuki Sato said that finding the Uwajima Fisheries High School's training ship is exactly what families of the nine still missing had wanted.

The Navy announced it had located the Ehime Maru, using an underwater vehicle. U.S. Navy Lt. Cmdr. Conrad Chun said the vessel was found by the remote-operated vehicle (ROV) Scorpio II "sitting nearly upright in approximately 2,000 feet of water" in the Pacific Ocean, about 1,000 yards from the position reported by the USS Greeneville at the time of the collision.

Sato gave U.S. officials credit for using high-technology devices to locate the sunken vessel but said he would like to see a serious effort to salvage the ship and to continue the search for the victims.

Sato also said the U.S. Navy's decision to include a representative of Japan's Maritime Self-Defense Force to take part in a court of inquiry investigating the accident was a sign that U.S. authorities took Japanese concerns seriously.

The Navy said the U.S. government is considering a salvage operation to recover the Ehime Maru. But Chun would not indicate whether the extent of damage to the ship had been ascertained, and it was not clear whether efforts would be undertaken to raise it.

"Whether that can be done or not will be determined later," Chun said.

In Tokyo, a Japanese foreign ministry official called the discovery good news, adding that he expects U.S. officials will make further efforts toward salvaging the ship.

The official also reacted positively to announcement of the inquiry, saying that Tokyo has been asking Washington to conduct a thorough investigation and to find out the cause of the collision between the USS Greeneville and the Ehime Maru.

The statements follow a Saturday resolution by Uwajima's 25-member municipal assembly asking for a direct U.S. apology for the accident. The resolution asks the United States to provide full disclosure of the cause of the collision and seeks medical and psychological support for the victims and their families.

Navy releases civilians' names

The collision occurred as the Greeneville performed an "emergency blow" as a demonstration for a group of 16 civilians aboard, which Navy officials said was not an unusual practice. On Saturday, the Navy released the names of the 16 civilians who were on board when the Greeneville hit the Ehime Maru.

Civilian John Hall, seated in the helm position, was allowed to operate the levers that start the emergency ascent procedure. Another civilian was allowed to operate the ballast control mechanism. Both were closely supervised by Navy crew members, officials said.

The Navy has since ordered submarine commanders not to allow civilian visitors to sit at control panels and has also told the commanders not to perform emergency surfacing maneuvers with civilians on board pending completion of its investigation.

National Transportation Safety Board official John Hammerschmidt said drug and alcohol tests done on the crew of the Japanese vessel and on 25 Greeneville crew members were negative. Testing of the Japanese crew was requested by the U.S. Coast Guard as part of the investigation, Hammerschmidt said.

He also said that interviews were completed with four of the 16 civilians who were on board the Greeneville, a 7,000-ton Los Angeles-class nuclear attack vessel, when it hit the Japanese ship. He said those interviews were conducted by telephone.

Investigators hope to finish interviewing the Greeneville's crew members by Monday, Hammerschmidt said, but he didn't know when the interviews with the civilians would be complete.

The NTSB said it will interview Waddle, who has been relieved of his command of the Greeneville and reassigned, pending the outcome of the investigation, on Sunday or Monday.

The NTSB predicts it will issue a final report on the incident in 12 to 15 months. If the investigation reveals that proper safety procedures were not followed, Waddle could be court-martialed for criminal negligence, Pentagon sources told CNN.

CNN National Correspondents Martin Savidge and Gary Tuchman and Tokyo Bureau Chief Marina Kamimura contributed to this report.

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February 16, 2001
First report on sub collision could come this week
February 15, 2001
Search to end for 9 missing from submarine collision
February 14, 2001
Two civilians were at controls of sub during collision
February 13, 2001
Hope fades for submarine collision survivors
February 12, 2001

U.S. Coast Guard
Japanese Prime Minister
U.S. Navy
 • CINCPACFLT statement on the USS Greeneville incident
 • Commander Submarine Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet
 • USS Greeneville
National Transportation Safety Board

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