Navy probe faults sub crew, sources say

'America is repeatedly ridiculing us,' says Japanese victim's father

In this story: Source: Skipper given wrong information Sailor could face criminal charges Sub turned before surfacing Japanese: U.S. trying to protect sub skipper RELATED STORIES, SITES

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Sources familiar with the U.S. Navy's investigation into the collision between the USS Greeneville and a Japanese vessel said Friday a preliminary report faults the crew of the submarine and concludes the presence of civilians on board may have been a factor in the accident.

The Ehime Maru quickly sank after the February 9 collision. Twenty-six people were rescued, but nine remain missing and are feared dead.

GALLERY See images of the sunken Ehime Maru    RESOURCES Key players in the USS Greeneville investigation 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     ALSO Japanese blast U.S. sub crew Rumsfeld imposes moratorium on civilians operating military equipment    INTERACTIVE Learn more about the U.S. Navy's Unmanned Vehicle Detachment (UMV) Learn more about Deep Drone    VIDEO While Japan's government says it's waiting for investigations to conclude, CNN Marina Kamimura says the Japanese people aren't so patient Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)     MESSAGE BOARD Sub collision

The Navy is dispatching its second-highest ranking admiral to Japan to "offer apologies on behalf of the U.S. government, the U.S. Navy and the American people" for the incident, the Pentagon announced Friday.

Vice Chief of Naval Operations Adm. William J. Fallon will deliver a letter from President George W. Bush to Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori "and the people of Japan," according to a Pentagon statement released Friday evening.

Fallon is expected to leave Washington this weekend, stopping in Hawaii before arriving in Tokyo for Wednesday meetings with Japanese officials, sources told CNN.

He will "explain the progress of the ongoing investigations, including the pending Navy court of inquiry, and the many actions taken by the U.S. in response to this tragic accident," the Pentagon statement said.

The Navy's preliminary report on the accident found that the Greeneville's skipper, Cmdr. Scott Waddle , was aware there was a ship in the area of his submarine just before conducting an emergency surfacing drill, one source with access to the report told CNN.

But Waddle concluded the ship was a safe distance away after a visual search with the sub's periscope failed to detect it, the report said.

The Navy report also concluded that the presence of 16 civilians in the submarine's cramped control room hampered communications, and may have been a factor in the crew's failure to perform up to standards, sources said.

Also on Friday, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld imposed a military-wide "moratorium on permitting civilian visitors to operate any item of (military) equipment ... when such operation could cause, or reasonably be perceived as causing, an increased safety risk."

Source: Skipper given wrong information

Navy investigators are focusing on the performance of the fire control technician, a member of the sonar monitoring team, whose job is to track the location of surface ships and enter their locations on a chart.

A source familiar with the investigation told CNN the technician calculated that a ship was 4,000 yards (about two nautical miles) away just before the submarine surfaced to conduct a visual check of the area.

Waddle told Navy investigators he was informed of the direction of the sonar contact but not its distance, and began a periscope search to look for a ship.

Sources say the preliminary investigation found that that search was "insufficient" because it was too short, and the submarine was not high enough in the water to see over the waves.

Waddle's defenders dispute that, arguing he did everything by the book, but that he was not informed that while he was conducting his periscope search, the fire control technician had recalculated the surface ships location as only 2,000 yards (one nautical mile) away.

Sources say Waddle did follow procedure by looking for the ship in the direction of the sonar contact. The sources also said Waddle raised the submarine two feet to get a better look, increased the periscope's magnification and turned off video monitors to increase resolution.

Sailor could face criminal charges

Sources said the Navy report quotes Waddle saying, "I hold no close contacts," the commander's indication that the surface was clear.

Investigators theorize that the technician, thinking his calculations must have been in error, changed the estimated position of the Japanese ship to 9,000 yards (4.5 nautical miles) away, but failed to inform the skipper.

Such a distance estimate change by the technician would violate a standing order to report any sonar contacts within 10,000 yards (five nautical miles).

The technician, whose name has not been released, told the National Transportation Safety Board that he did not do part of his job because of the presence of so many civilians.

Navy officials say it is likely that the sailor, an enlisted man, could face criminal charges along with the three officers who have already been named as parties to the official court of inquiry that is now scheduled to begin early next month.

Those officers facing charges include Waddle, 41, the commanding officer; Lt. Cmdr. Gerald Pfeifer, 38, the executive officer; and Lt. j.g. Michael Coen, 26, the officer of the deck.

Sub turned before surfacing

Navy sources -- citing analysis based on a reconstruction of events after the fact and not on what the sub crew knew at the time -- told CNN the Greeneville did a 180-degree turn below the surface just before doing its rapid ascent, which resulted in the accident.

Navy officials theorized that the submarine may have been turning in an effort to put more distance between itself and any surface ships and unknowingly turned toward the Ehime Maru.

Officials also said it is possible that in turning, the submarine may have lost the sonar reading "in the baffles" of the submarine's propeller.

On Thursday, the Navy granted a continuance to attorneys for Waddle, pushing back a court of inquiry to March 5. Waddle's military attorneys said they requested the delay to allow a civilian attorney more time to prepare.

Japanese: U.S. trying to protect sub skipper

The father of a 17-year-old student missing after the collision blasted the U.S. court delay, saying that he believed the move was "a strategy to protect the commander."

"They (the United States) had hired a very good lawyer to protect the rights of the offender," Ryosuke Terata -- whose son Yusuke is one of the missing and presumed dead after the collision -- said at a Friday news conference in his hometown of Uwajima with other relatives the missing.

"For us Japanese, this is extremely frustrating," Terata said. "It is just like putting a crying child into a closet to wait until it calms down."

He also said the delay in the U.S. Navy's inquiry was evidence of "the American way of doing things.

"America is repeatedly ridiculing us," Terata said.

Thirteen of the Japanese ship's passengers were students from the Uwajima Fisheries High School on a training project. Four of the nine people missing and presumed dead are students.

After the incident, the relatives of the missing were dismayed to learn that civilians had been aboard the Greeneville at the time of the accident-- and that two of them had been at key controls during the surfacing maneuver.

CNN Military Affairs Correspondent Jamie McIntyre, CNN Tokyo Bureau Chief Marina Kamimura and National Security Producer Chris Plante contributed to this report.

Navy grants delay of sub court of inquiry
February 22, 2001
Civilians ordered hands off control
February 21, 2001
Sources: Sub's sonar system detected Japanese vessel
February 20, 2001
Army bars civilians from planes, vehicles
February 20, 2001
Sub skipper refuses to talk to NTSB
February 19, 2001
Letter from the Mayor of Uwajima, Japan
February 19, 2001
Civilians: We were 'innocent bystanders' in sub accident
February 18, 2001
Japanese relatives view video of ship hit by sub
February 18, 2001
Civilians barred from sub controls during probe
February 16, 2001
First report on sub collision could come this week
February 15, 2001

U.S. Coast Guard
Japanese Prime Minister
City of Uwajima's memorial site
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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