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Major Submarine IncidentsSince the year 2000, there have been seven major naval incidents involving submarines: two Russian submarine incidents (in both cases the submarines in question were lost), three incidents involving submarines from the United States , a Chinese incident, and a Canadian incident. Kursk Disaster In the year 2000, the Russian Oscar II class submarine (which is the world's largest class of cruise-missile submarine), sank in the Barents Sea when a leak of hydrogen peroxide in the forward torpedo room caused a spontaneous detonation of one or more torpedo warheads. The explosion was large enough to register on nearby seismographs. The initial explosion mercifully killed the majority of the submarines' 118 sailors, however, a small number became trapped in the stern of the submarine, and despite an international rescue effort, suffocated due to a lack of oxygen. The Russian Navy was severly criticized in their home country by family members of the deceased crew for failure to accept international help in a timely manner. USS Greeneville Collision In the year 2001, the American submarine USS Greeneville accidentally struck and sank a Japanese high-school training ship, Ehime-Maru, killing nine Japanese aboard, including four students. The collision occurred while members of the public were on board the submarine observing an emergency surface drill. A naval inquiry found that the accident was the result of poorly executed sonar sweeps, an ineffective periscope search by Captain Scott Waddle, bad communication among the crew and distractions caused by the presence of the 16 civilian guests aboard the Submarine. Capt. Waddle took full responsiblity for the incident, and was reprimanded, but Navy Officials decided against a court-martial. USS Dolphin Major Flooding and Fire In May 2002, the American Submarine USS Dolphin experienced severe flooding and fires off the Coast of San Diego, California. The ship was abandoned by the ship's crew and all personnel were rescued by nearby Naval vessels. Although severely damaged, the ship was towed back to San Diego for overhaul. Ming 361 Loss of All Personnel In May 2003, China announced that the entire ship's crew (70 people) had been killed aboard Ming 361 due to a mechanical malfunction. The accident took place off the coast of Liaoning province in northeast China. The vessel was recovered and towed to an unidentified port. The cause of the accident is not known, but it is believed that the crew suffocated due to malfunctioning diesel engines, which sucked all the ship's oxygen from the interior of the submarine. K-159 Sinking In August 2003, the Russian November class submarine K-159 sank in the Barents Sea. The submarine had been decommissioned, and was in the process of being towed for scrapping. Of the skeleton crew of ten aboard the submarine, nine perished in the cold waters of the Barents Sea. HMCS Chicoutimi Fire On October 5, 2004, the Canadian submarine HMCS Chicoutimi suffered two fires after leaving Faslane for Canada, one crewmember, Lieutenant Chris Saunders died while being transported to Ireland via helicopter a day later. Investigations concluded that poor insulating of power cables caused the fires. USS San Francisco Grounding On the 8th of January 2005, the Los Angeles class submarine, USS San Francisco ran aground 350 miles south of Guam. Machinist Mate 2nd Class Joseph Allen Ashley, 24, of Akron, Ohio, died of injuries suffered in the accident, which occurred when the submarine was on a high speed run to Brisbane, Australia. Several news websites stated that the submarine hit an 'Uncharted Sea Mount' at speed. Cdr. Kevin Mooney was later relieved of command after an investigation revealed that the ship was using inadequate voyage planning techniques. The submarine experienced a rapid deceleration from approximatly 30 knots, causing everything not attached to the submarine to go flying forwards and a section of the bow in. Around 60 other sailors were also injured in the accident, some seriously.
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