Reply #32: Just some BIG OIL COMPANY EXECUTIVES. Stop asking tough questions!

[stevedeshazer]

Republicans participating in an "emergency blow".

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2001/feb2001/jap-f24.shtml

<snip>

The US Navy initially denied that the presence of 16 civilians in the submarine's control room, including wealthy and influential individuals with ties to the oil industry, contributed to the accident. It was then revealed that two civilians were seated at the submarine's controls as it launched into a rapid surfacing technique known as an “emergency blow”. It is widely believed that, far from the action being a training exercise as claimed, it was a demonstration staged for the benefit of the well-connected guests.

For days, the US Navy was not forthcoming as to how the high-tech submarine could have failed to detect a 499-tonne ship. Then on February 20, the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) revealed that the Greeneville's sonar had in fact found the Japanese trawler and four other ships at least 70 minutes before the collision. Navigation charts, however, were not updated before the submarine surfaced and struck the Ehime Maru, because the civilians were blocking access to the controls.

Of the three sailors operating the sonar equipment, one was an unqualified trainee. The sailor chiefly responsible for updating the navigation chart has told the NTSB that he did not ask the civilians to make way so he could do his work. It is now believed that the submarine commander had no idea of the sonar results, as they were not reported to him. Moreover, the sonar monitor in his compartment was broken.

These revelations come on top of the fact the Greeneville surfaced outside of the designated testing area for submarines and that it provided no assistance to those on board the sinking ship. The US Navy did not attempt to locate the hull of the vessel for six days even though the accident happened just miles from the massive Pearl Harbor US naval base. By comparison, the Russian navy took a day to begin a search to locate the submarine Kursk last year.

---Nothing to see here. Move along, fella.