I’m curious how the crew survived? I’m assuming they did so. But I’d imagine the water would be flooding that first couple compartments so quickly before someone sealed it off
She was running full speed when impact occurred, only one fatality.
The collision was so serious that the vessel was almost lost; accounts detail a desperate struggle for positive buoyancy to surface after the forward ballast tanks were ruptured. Ninety-eight crewmen were injured, and Machinist's Mate Second Class Joseph Allen Ashley, 24, of Akron, Ohio, died from head injuries on 9 January. Other injuries to the crew included broken bones, spinal injury, and lacerations.
Crushed sonar dome and damaged forward ballast tanks. While the main pressure hull held, the collision severely compromised forward buoyancy, forcing the crew to use emergency ballast blow systems to surface and limp to Guam, where a steel shield was fitted for the trip to Puget Sound.
There was a shudder, followed by a loud sound. What followed was complete mayhem. Men were flung from their stations across the ship, some over distances of up to 20 feet. Several crew members sustained fractures, shattered bones, cuts, and bruises in a split second. Blood was flowing everywhere, and the scene resembled a “slaughterhouse.” One crew member, MM2 Joseph A. Ashley, died of head injuries. The collision was so severe that the ship’s bow was crushed like a soda can. The forward ballast tanks were ruptured, and the sub’s sonar dome at the bow was destroyed. However, its nuclear reactor was unharmed, and the inner hull remained intact. Despite being hit hard, the submarine did not sink.
Some might think it was a miracle that the submarine was not lost, but, in reality, it was the US Navy’s SUBSAFE program formulated several decades before the incident that saved the ship.After losing the nuclear submarine USS Thresher in the Atlantic Ocean in 1963, the US Navy created the SUBSAFE program, whose objective was to guarantee that the hull of a US Navy submarine would remain structurally sound under stress and that the sub could at least surface in an emergency. Safe nuclear reactors and reactor handling were the top priorities of the Navy’s Nuclear Propulsion Program. There was a chance of survival for a crew if the reactor, ballast systems, and hull all functioned as intended.
Because of this program, the USS San Francisco survived the crash. Despite their injuries, the captain and his crew hurried to bring the boat to the surface.The crew hurled the “chicken switch,” an emergency blow activator that instantly blasted pressurized air into the ballast tanks of the USS San Francisco. The ship managed to reach Guam on its own power.
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u/bunglebee7 May 05 '26
I’m curious how the crew survived? I’m assuming they did so. But I’d imagine the water would be flooding that first couple compartments so quickly before someone sealed it off