The US nuclear-powered rapid attack subsistent USS Connecticut arrived in San Diego Bay on December 12 with significant damage to the bow. Defense news agency The Drive said the Seawolf-class nuclear Submarine lost all of its sonar arch at the bow, making the 9,950 km journey across the Pacific extremely uncomfortable.
According to the US Navy Institute (USNI), the "unable" sonar dome could cause the already incidented Submarine to move " unsafely" underwater. USNI added that the bow boxes and the front of the ship were also damaged.
After assessing initial damage in Guam, the ship is expected to be repaired at the Puget sound Naval Shipyard and the Intermediate Maintenance Facility in Washington - USNI said, but did not specify why the ship was heading to San Diego.
It is also unclear how long the repair will take - or how much it will cost. The US Navy has not commented on the repair possibility, but Naval News said that repairing the sonar dome will be quite expensive.
US Pacific Submarine Forces spokesman cft. 9:00 p.m. only told The Drive that the ship was in port and "remaining in a safe and stable condition."
USNI said nearly a dozen crew members were injured in the collision, although none were believed to be life-threatening, adding that the suberries' nuclear propulsion and reactor systems were not affected.
An investigation by Squadron 7, operating in the West Pacific, said the ship had collided with an underground mountain in the South China Sea.
Last month, Vice Admiral Karl Thomas, commander of the 7th Flood, was dismissed from the positions of captain, operator and chief sonar technician of the USS Connecticut "due to lack of confidence". Thomas determined that the incident could have been prevented if it had been "correctly judged, made cautious decisions, and followed mandatory processes in planning, monitoring enforcement groups, and risk management."
