Pearl Harbor, Hawaii — Broken equipment, civilian guests and a rush to get back on schedule contributed to the fatal collision between a nuclear submarine and a Japanese fishing boat, a Navy admiral testified Wednesday.
A lawyer for the commander of the USS Greeneville, however, immediately questioned the admiral's findings and said the Navy's investigation of the Feb. 9 accident was incomplete and inaccurate.
"You had some time constraints placed on you that made it difficult ... to do a thorough and complete investigation," Cmdr. Scott Waddle's civilian attorney, Charles Gittins, said in questioning Rear Adm. Charles Griffiths.
Griffiths conducted the Navy's preliminary investigation. He spent his third day testifying in a Navy court of inquiry into why the Greeneville hit and sank the Ehime Maru on Feb. 9, killing nine people. Gittins began his cross examination after the three admirals overseeing the court completed their questioning.
The court of inquiry will help determine the fate of Waddle, his second in command, Lt. Cmdr. Gerald Pfeifer, and the officer of the deck, Lt. j.g. Michael Coen. They could face courts-martial.
"What went wrong?" asked Vice Adm. John Nathman, who is overseeing the court.
Griffiths concluded that five main factors may have led to the collision:
A rush to complete an emergency surfacing drill, which was pushed back nearly 45 minutes because of delays including a long lunch for the civilian guests.
A lack of qualified sonar operators.
Broken equipment that could have helped detect the Japanese ship.
The number and location of 16 civilians aboard the Greeneville.
A command climate in which the crew were unaccustomed to questioning Waddle because they trusted his skills.
The Greeneville was demonstrating an emergency surfacing drill for its civilian visitors when it rammed the Ehime Maru, causing it to flood and quickly sink.
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