Case Study: The US Navy's Worst Submarine Disaster

On February 15th, 1898, at about 9:40 in the night, the USS Maine exploded in the Havana Harbor. It killed between 260 and 268 men, and it caused a major uproar or attention in the United States. Because it was only a few days after the public found out about the De Lome letter, many Americans, and newspapers especially, put the blame onto Spain. It would soon become a minor cause of the Spanish-American War. During the war, the chant “Remember the Maine!” was used because of this tragedy.

Descent into Darkness by Edward C. Raymer is an exceptional piece of work that accounts the history and aftermath of the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941. Raymer’s purpose when writing Descent into Darkness was to mainly depict the story of what naval divers did during the recovery process after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the hazards endured and the sometimes nearly impossible hardships they overcame, and the innovative diving techniques implemented used to salvage as many damaged battleships and naval capabilities back to fleet. The primary content also includes tense descriptions of diving after horrific circumstances, the human factors that are seldom known, and the

This separation presented communication and data-sharing challenges. Furthermore, the new design contained a number of technical risks, one of them was designing a submarine that would operate in a manner and environment very different from what Kockums was accustomed to. The risk resulted fuel system has been proven to be problematic. Swedish submarines have short patrols in calm, relatively fresh water. When a similar design was used in the salty, open water in which Australian submarines operate, water was sucked into the engine causing failure. Moreover, the RAN submarines transit greater distance and are on station for months at time, which has number of implications for fuel storage, hotel service, and other hull design features. The difference in operation concept and environment ultimately led to some equipment and system decision during design that caused problems with operations and supportability.

They soon discovered the submarines bow planes were buried; the bow tanks full of sand. The propellers were torn off, steering gear ruined, stern tanks flooded, and all the hatches were desperately jammed.

​“The war to end all wars” was what people called it. Others called it “The Great War”. Many people died in this war. And there was really no right or wrong in this war; meaning that I don’t think there really was a side that was wrong or right, and I’m going to explain why further in this essay. I think both sides were wrong in things, but in the end, Germany was the one that suffered the most because they were being forced to pay billions dollars in the war debts, and let the French control a rich mine for well over 15 years. But before that Germany and the Britain’s were at war with each other. And Germany sent out a warning to everyone saying that every ship crossing the war zone line (which was the

A submarine is defined as “something that functions or operates underwater; specifically: a naval vessel designed to operate underwater.” This definition holds true today but started at the beginning of the Civil War when submarines originally became a popular choice of weaponry. In general, submarine crews were composed of a commander, who steered the boat, and six or more men who used hand cranks to move the boat. Many inventors intended on creating electric motors to move the boat, but they were unable to produce enough torque. Submarines were primarily used in combat because they could travel invisibly. Innovations like submarines did not just change the way people fought wars–they also changed the way people lived.

Before World War II, the submarine was very predictable and easily managed with detection systems, depth detection, and antisubmarine forces. The aircrafts were harder to manage, and could easily penetrate enemy territory. It was not so predictable.[xii]

The third and final crew on the Hunley set out on February 17th, 1864. Their mission was to sink the USS Housatonic, and they succeeded. After a few moments everyone realized that the Hunley would not be coming back to the port. No one knows why it sunk for the third time. Many people thought that after all, even if the Hunley and its crew were found, they couldn’t talk.

They were plagued by design flaws; the subs vibrated excessively creating a dangerous amount of noise and the controls were unnecessarily complicated. Japan had numerous advantages over the United States at the beginning of the war. Japan’s submarines were not only slightly faster and larger, they were also better outfitted with exceptional optical gear and look outs, excellent torpedoes, and adequate underwater listening gear. They did not, however, have radar.

“I got my blanket I didn’t get my cape on or life jacket I don't need that,” said Edgar Harrell, survivor of the USS Indianapolis. The sinking of the USS Indianapolis was the worst accident to ever happen in Naval history with over 900 men entering the water, only 316 survived. “We were losing three or four each night and day” said Cox. It became normal to see shark fins swimming at you. The sinking of the USS Indianapolis could have been prevented if the Guam Naval Base had warned the ship about the submarines, if more people knew about the ship, and if the three distress signals sent to Naval Base Guam were taken seriously.

The Collins Class submarine was prone to excessive noise signatures whilst travelling at speed and lacked the operational capability to enter conflict situations due to the

As a Senior Chief in the United States Navy, the horrific events that took place on September 11th 2001 have had a profound effect on me both professionally and personally. Since then, our country has been fortunate enough to not have a repeat of the events that took the lives of 2,977 Americans. “Much of our success has been in the form of intelligence gathered by a multitude of federal agencies and information shared between our allies” (Hoffman 268). This success has led many to believe we will never be attacked like we were before but instead, we will have more of a ‘lone wolf’ style attack such as the one seen at the Boston Marathon which killed 3 and injured 264 others. I anticipate our current level of success and luck will eventually run dry until we shore up our borders. If we fail in this effort, we will see an attack similar in design but larger in scale as the one used in Paris, France on November 13th 2015. If this happens, our Nation will be led to another foot war and my family life as I know it will change.

One of the greatest tragedies of the twentieth century, was the sinking of the Titanic in 1912. Although many ships have succumbed to the icebergs in the ocean, none have accounted for a greater loss of life than the Titanic (Hill, 2000). All the hype surrounding the Titanic in 1912, made people believe this ship was going to be an unstoppable luxury cruise; even third class passengers would be able to enjoy simple things that weren’t offered on other ocean liners at the time, like cooked meals and their own private cabins. The Titanic was dubbed the Ship of Dreams; however, it would turn into a nightmare for the passengers and their families in less than a week. The maiden voyage from South Hampton, England to New York City, New York would be a journey no one could forget. The sinking of the Titanic would capture the imagination of Hollywood directors, and became the passion of sea explorers who would search for the great vessel.

Researchers have related this incident to one from years preceding. Many scientists’ interests peaked when they heard that this unstable fluid was to blame. There was an accident 45 years former to the sinking of the Kursk, where the submarine the Sidon, got completely shredded by a trial usage of the HTP in a torpedo. Researchers were not exactly sure why the Sidon had exploded, but the theories of this blast were in use to try to solve that of the Kursk. On the Sidon, the HTP came into contact with silver, which caused the HTP to react, forming extremely hot water, pure oxygen, and hydrogen peroxide to fill up the torpedo. Since there was an overabundance in the missile, it could not withhold anymore, and blew up. Since these elements were so uncontrolled, it exploded, but much more extreme. So, scientists and researchers concluded that what happened to the Sidon, is what ended up happening to the Kursk, due to the unstable nature of the HTP (The

The three different stories will have different information.The first story is about the Submarine Warfare American Revolution Style. Also the second story is going to be about David Bushnell and his American Turtle. Finally the last story will be about the Excerpt from a letter from Ezra Lee to David Humphreys.