Report: Sailors killed while tethered to sub

Report: Sailors killed while tethered to sub

Rough seas also threatened to sink ship

By Andrew Scutro - Staff writer

Posted : Tuesday Apr 10, 2007 10:56:16 EDT

Two sailors from the attack submarine Minneapolis-St. Paul were killed Dec. 29 off Plymouth, England, after being washed overboard in rough seas that soon threatened to sink the ship, according an investigative report released Monday under a Freedom of Information Act request filed by Navy Times.

Senior Chief Electronics Technician (SS) Thomas K. Higgins, 45, chief of the boat, died in the accident, along with Sonar Technician 2nd Class (SS) Michael J. Holtz.

A third sailor, Sonar Technician 1st Class (SS) James Sowa, was washed overboard with Higgins and Holtz but survived.

Assigned to a small boat handling team, the three were trying to transfer a British harbor pilot off the submarine near a breakwater on the way out of port. At the time of the accident, the team was on the deck and the pilot was in the hatch of the Forward Escape Trunk. Although bad weather approached — in fact prompting their departure from England — it was deemed manageable at the time, according to the JAG Manual Investigation report.

But while the three sailors stood exposed on deck, a strong wave hit the sub hard enough to slam the outer trunk hatch down on the pilot, causing him to bite through his upper lip.

The pilot reopened the hatch but the sub captain, Cmdr. Edwin Ruff, ordered Higgins, Holtz and Sowa below decks. Before they could get through the hatch, a second wave hit, knocking the three sailors into the sea.

The pilot got safely inside the submarine. The three sailors remained outside. They were rocked by heavy swells and struggled to get back aboard, but remained tethered to the submarine by lanyards fastened to a safety rail, according to the report.

A shipmate went up to the deck but was also washed overboard before he could clip his lanyard to the rail. A nearby escort boat picked him up.

The sailors were being tossed back and forth across the deck. Sowa survived when a wave washed him onto the deck allowing him to pull himself toward the open hatch. A swimmer tender, Storekeeper Seaman Garrett Degler, grabbed him, cut him free and hoisted him inside, according to the report.

Another sailor went out after Higgins and Holtz but he too was washed overboard. He tried to swim back to the ship but was quickly rescued by an escort boat.

With Higgins and Holtz still tethered to the submarine, water from 10 to 15 foot waves was pouring into the submarine, leaving “several inches of standing water” in the mess deck and filling bilges. It took a crew member several tries to shut the hatch, which had been fouled by the Jacob’s ladder. The submarine was maneuvered in heavy seas to keep it clear of the nearby breakwater and provide a lee for the trapped sailors.

Higgins and Holtz were eventually recovered by the escorts. They were later pronounced dead at a nearby hospital.

It is unclear from the report whether Higgins and Holtz had knives that would have allowed them to cut their lanyards and get clear of the submarine for quick rescue.

Overall, fault is assigned in the report to leadership for not correctly analyzing available information or anticipating sea conditions in their location. The harbor master, a British civilian with 15 years’ experience guiding ships and submarines in and out of Plymouth, is faulted for giving the crew “poor advice” and not sharing information about “potentially dangerous sea states past the breakwater.”

A lack of crew training in risk management and man-overboard procedures is also cited. After the accident the submarine had to continue on a 14-hour transit to its dive point further out to sea. It could not return to port because of changing tide conditions.

Ruff, skipper of the submarine at the time of accident, was relieved of command Jan. 19 by then-commander of the submarine force, Vice Adm. Charles Munns. Munns relieved Ruff three days after the skipper had been given a punitive letter of reprimand but allowed to stay with the ship.

The executive officer received a punitive letter of reprimand at a non-judicial proceeding in January. He left the submarine based on a previously scheduled change of station.

Charges against two junior officers and a chief petty officer were dismissed.

The entire submarine force went on a weeklong safety stand-down to evaluate risk mitigation on Jan. 11, following the Minneapolis-St. Paul accident and the Jan. 8 collision between the attack submarine Newport News and a Japanese oil tanker in the Persian Gulf.

Minneapolis-St. Paul returned to Norfolk, Va., on April 3, following a six-month deployment.

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