Comments on: Navy Loses Signal, Thought Sub Had Sunk

Military Temporarily Loses Communication With USS San Juan Off Florida Coast; Navy Investigating Incident

[navychief8]

My best friend and my friend's husband are both on this boat and they are new parents to a new baby boy so I thank GOD that they are ok and pray that we will see them soon and we hope they are safe
Posted by moonstar84

Don't worry. they are pro's with the best training in the world. All is well. But you know this.

[cdr_ret]

First, the comments regarding military dependents are completely uncalled for and well off topic. Many spouses, especially of junior enlisted personnel (but even officers and chiefs), just don't get the word about what they can and cannot do.

As for the incident, all we have to go on is the report from one person employed by CBS. I have not been able to find this story via any other news service. I wonder where he got his information?

I suspect that when all the dust has settled, investigators will find that San Juan or another vessel fired a red flare instead of a green one (which signals a successful simulated attack). Since the San Juan was the simulated enemy, her duty was to remain undetected. Guess what? She did her job. And contrary to what some may believe, subs just do not routinely come to the surface and tell everyone they are OK, even in exercises. That compromises what subs are all about. It looks to me like a tempest in a teacup. I'm wondering if perhaps SUBLANT felt compelled to issue a SUBSUNK alert because the news media had already got involved in something they should have let go until an official release was issued. We are not the Russians. We don't try to hide such incidents. Just recall the San Francisco and Greeneville collisions a few years ago.

[navychief8]

Posted by spud777777

You are an idiot wiht no actual knowledge.

I am a Navy Sonar Technician. Submaring maintenance (sub safe progaram) is the best in the world and the US military for that matter. What happened is extremely rare. In this instance the sub was acting as "opfor" for a battle group exercise. For wahtever reason they were not able to communicate with the sub. That does not mean the sub couldn't communicate. But there are procedures in place that require the sub to communicate at predetermined times. I think that is what happened here. A red flare was sighted so they assume sub in distress. So the surface ships and other subs attempt to contact them. Whn unable to do so. They take the precaution of assuming something has gone wrong and search for the sub. I won't go into detail as these are classified procedures. But in the end all is well. The sub made contact as is procedure.

[navychief8]

how can the sub sink, or be sunk when it is already under water?
Posted by corpse4

Is this a real question? If no, not funny! This is no laughing matter.

[moonstar84]

My best friend and my friend's husband are both on this boat and they are new parents to a new baby boy so I thank GOD that they are ok and pray that we will see them soon and we hope they are safe

[mitywhity]

GO NAVY! GO ARMY! GO MARINES! GO AIR FORCE! GO COAST GUARD! GO NATL GUARD! GO RESERVES! GO AMERICA! Thank God I am an American! Thank you, thank you God!

[corpse4]

how can the sub sink, or be sunk when it is already under water?

[spud777777]

Interesting, what if the Navy needed to tell the sub not to attack other forces thinking that there was an attack on the US. People, wake up, the military is underfunded due to the war in Iraq and their systems are failing due to proper maintainance. (two F-16 recently crashed).

Stop the madness and impeach Bush and Cheney.

[gunnerv1]

Tara992: To use a phrase you might understand... Your going just a little bit overboard! It's not the Navy's fault that your friend had her sound muted. The Navy was not and will not send out any Msg. without confirmation. (Thats how wars get started) SCPO (SW) USN (Ret.)

[randalds]

I think you're being a little hard on Trara992. The Navy should never have begun notifying next of kin and it sure as HE*LL shouldn't have released any hint of what was going on to the press until they had a confirmed sinking. Face it the Navy's public and family relations (I don't know the name of the office since I was in the Air Force) people fu*cked up on this one big time.