'What the Hell Was That?'

By PAUL RICHTER

Feb. 16, 2001 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

WASHINGTON —

When John Hall and 15 other civilians climbed aboard the U.S. submarine Greeneville last Friday, they were “just middle-class Americans” ready for “the ride of their lifetimes.”

For about five hours, Hall said, their ride was just that--until the nuclear-powered sub sliced through the hull of a Japanese fishing vessel, leaving nine people lost at sea. The day’s excursion had turned into a tragic international incident.

In the first description of the accident from American eyewitnesses, Hall and Todd Thoman on Thursday recounted how the Greeneville’s crew maneuvered the sub with clocklike precision on exercises through the warm Pacific waters south of Honolulu. And they related how, as their tour was coming to a close, the sub burst through the hull of the trawler Ehime Maru--which had drifted overhead, undetected by all the Greeneville’s high-tech equipment.

“Jesus, what the hell was that?” cried Cmdr. Scott Waddle, the sub’s skipper, according to Hall.

Hall was one of two civilians at the controls of the sub when the vessels collided. He and Thoman recalled that in the next panicked minutes the visitors watched on video monitors as the fishing vessel heaved and plunged toward the ocean floor--while desperate survivors swam through a slick of diesel fuel to life rafts.

“Everybody was in shock,” Hall recalled in an interview with NBC’s “Today” show.

The presence of visitors on the Greeneville has become a key issue as Navy and civilian investigators gather evidence.

President Bush told reporters at the White House on Thursday that he thought it was necessary for the Pentagon to “review all policy regarding civilian activity during military exercises.”

Navy spokesman Cmdr. Greg Smith on Thursday night declined to comment on a New York Times report that the Navy had already ordered submarine commanders not to allow civilians to sit at the controls, at least until the investigation is over, or to come aboard subs conducting emergency training maneuvers.

Although Navy officials have insisted that such visits strengthen their ties with the civilian world, critics have speculated that the presence of nonmilitary personnel in the cramped sub may have distracted its crew--or even obstructed the crew’s operation.

Rear Adm. Stephen Pietropaoli, the Navy’s chief spokesman, said the Atlantic and Pacific submarine fleets are reviewing procedures “to take extra care to ensure that they’re done completely safely.”

National Transportation Safety Board investigators, who have been interviewing crew members and Coast Guard rescuers, have decided to interview each of the civilians who were aboard the Greeneville as well--an effort that is expected to take about a week.

“Our Washington headquarters will begin today to contact those who have left the islands, which we understand is most of them,” NTSB official John Hammerschmidt said in Honolulu on Thursday. “Our goal is to complete the interview process as expeditiously as possible, while memories are still fresh.”

Civilian ‘Adamantly’ Denies Interference

In their interview, Hall and Thoman insisted that the Greeneville’s skipper and crew were in complete control at all times--and that none of the passengers interfered with the crew before or during the emergency.

Thoman “adamantly” denied that the visitors could have hindered the crew in any way. “Not one thing got done on that submarine that the commanding officer was not made aware of,” insisted Thoman, who appeared on the television program with his wife, Deanda.

Yet the men were at a loss to explain how officers and crew--who seemed so conscientious--could have failed to notice the 190-foot trawler nearby.

Until Thursday, all 16 civilians had sought to avoid publicity, and the Navy has refused to release their names. Officials have described them as businesspeople and community leaders, mostly from the mainland. Fourteen of the 16 visitors were donors to a fund to restore the battleship Missouri, where the Japanese signed surrender papers at the end of World War II, officials said. The two others were a sports writer and his wife, officials said.

A statement from the USS Missouri Memorial Assn., the nonprofit caretaker for the historic battleship now moored at Pearl Harbor, identified two of the visitors as Michael “Mickey” Nolan and his wife, Susan, of Honolulu, who have donated to the association. Phone calls to the Nolans’ home were not returned Thursday.

The civilians had been planning their visit to the Greeneville for nearly a year. It was finally made possible when retired Adm. Richard Macke, who commanded U.S. forces in the Pacific in the early 1990s, recommended the group for a special excursion.

When the day arrived, they donned Windbreakers and tennis shoes and boarded the Greeneville at 8 a.m. at Pearl Harbor.

Hall and another member of the group were allowed to sit in key posts in the control room. Another visitor sat at the helm, where a small steering wheel controls the sub’s side-to-side direction.

Hall was at the ballast controls, which regulate chambers that are filled with seawater or compressed air to make the boat rise and fall.

Hall said crew members asked if he would like to send the sub to the surface by pushing down two key levers, a move that empties the chambers of water.

“I said, ‘Sure, I’d love to do that,’ ” he said.

And with a crew member standing next to him, Hall practiced his task “over and over” because, he said, “I was a little nervous about it.”

Hall and Thoman said they saw the officers use the periscope and sonar equipment to scan the surface for signs of any nearby vessel.

The deck officer took the periscope up and made two full 360-degree rotations, and then the skipper did the same, Thoman said. And on the sonar screens, which are on a console monitored by three or four crew members, “we saw no vessel,” he said.

Following procedures, the sub dived to about 400 feet, then less than 10 minutes later began the ascent drill, called an “emergency blow.”

At a signal, Hall pushed down the levers. A crew member put his hands over Hall’s to make sure the procedure was carried out properly, Hall said.

The visitors said they couldn’t feel much when the sub--like a leaping whale--breached the surface of the ocean. But they could tell when its nose dipped back down into the water.

And “just as it was starting to come down . . . there was a very loud noise, and the entire submarine shuddered,” Hall said.

At that point, the skipper cried out in alarm. “Jesus, what the hell was that?” He seized the periscope, scanned the surface and saw the damaged vessel.

“We have hit [the Ehime Maru],” the skipper announced.

The visitors were shepherded to the crew’s mess hall, which was one deck below the control room. In shock, they watched what was happening on the surface through video monitors that captured images through the periscope.

Outside, water was flooding the trawler. The sailors on board the trawler, along with a group of vocational high school students who had come to learn about commercial fishing, were scrambling to abandon ship. Within minutes, the Ehime Maru had taken on so much water that one end sank, followed by the rest of the trawler, apparently taking nine victims with it.

Visitors Remained Aboard for 25 Hours

The visitors said they watched as the sub’s crew pulled out emergency equipment and prepared the tiny officers’ mess for use as an emergency room.

The visitors then were escorted into the sub’s missile room, where they remained while the crew sought to handle the emergency. They stayed on the sub a full 25 hours, until Saturday morning, while the Greeneville’s crew continued helping in the search.

Hall said he would be willing to talk to any of the families of the nine lost at sea. “I think those families need closure,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Coast Guard said Thursday it was calling off its “active” search for survivors. A spokesman in Honolulu said the search would move to passive status--an effort to recover remains rather than find survivors.

Adm. Thomas B. Fargo, commander of the Pacific Fleet, will decide whether the incident warrants court-martialing the submarine’s captain or crew. Waddle was reassigned to other duties when the sub docked in Honolulu last weekend.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

At the Controls (civilians in red)

1. John Hall at ballast controls

Sets levers to open and close ballast tanks, raising and lowering sub.

2. Planesman

Sits at wheel, responsible for changes in angle of sub.

3. Diving officer

Supervises the steering.

4. Helmsman

Sits at wheel, controls speed, course direction and depth. NOTE: Not all crew members in the command room are shown.

Additional crew usually present

Navigators