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WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO...
Navy still investigating fire aboard special warfare minisub
POSTED: 01:30 a.m. HST, Dec 21, 2008
Question: What caused the fire that damaged the Navy's only special warfare minisub whose batteries were being recharged Nov. 9 at Pearl Harbor?
Answer: The Navy says the investigation still hasn't been completed. Cmdr. Greg Geisen, spokesman for the Naval Special Warfare Command in San Diego, said: " The investigations into the recent ASDS (Advanced SEAL Delivery System) minisub fire are ongoing. A complete, thorough and analytical review will take time."
He would not say how long the black, cigar-shaped, 65-foot minisub will be out of service nor would he say how much it would cost to repair the controversial vessel.
It was supposed to have been deployed on its first mission aboard the guided missile sub USS Michigan last month.
The investigation is being led by the Naval Special Warfare Command and supported by experts from Naval Sea Systems Command and the Navy Safety Center.
The 60-ton minisub was undergoing routine maintenance at Pearl Harbor's 22-acre SEAL facility on Waipio Peninsula when Navy personnel monitoring the battery recharging process noticed sparks and flames coming from near some of the battery compartments, officials said last month. The building was immediately evacuated, and it took six hours to extinguish the fire and cool any remaining hot spots in the minisub's battery compartment, the Navy reported then.
The battery-powered minisub, designed to ride piggyback on an attack sub to within range of a hostile coast or other target, has been part of a troubled program that began in 1992. The vessel was delivered to the U.S. Naval Special Warfare Command in 2001 and assigned to Pearl Harbor's SEAL Delivery Vehicle Team 1 in 2003. There were initial problems with its propeller system, then problems with the electrical system and batteries.
It has a crew of two and can transport up to 16 SEALs.
A 2003 General Accounting Office report said the program, which initially called for six vessels, was to cost $527 million but rose to more than $2 billion.
Question: What caused the fire that damaged the Navy's only special warfare minisub whose batteries were being recharged Nov. 9 at Pearl Harbor?
Answer: The Navy says the investigation still hasn't been completed. Cmdr. Greg Geisen, spokesman for the Naval Special Warfare Command in San Diego, said: " The investigations into the recent ASDS (Advanced SEAL Delivery System) minisub fire are ongoing. A complete, thorough and analytical review will take time."
He would not say how long the black, cigar-shaped, 65-foot minisub will be out of service nor would he say how much it would cost to repair the controversial vessel.
It was supposed to have been deployed on its first mission aboard the guided missile sub USS Michigan last month.
The investigation is being led by the Naval Special Warfare Command and supported by experts from Naval Sea Systems Command and the Navy Safety Center.
The 60-ton minisub was undergoing routine maintenance at Pearl Harbor's 22-acre SEAL facility on Waipio Peninsula when Navy personnel monitoring the battery recharging process noticed sparks and flames coming from near some of the battery compartments, officials said last month. The building was immediately evacuated, and it took six hours to extinguish the fire and cool any remaining hot spots in the minisub's battery compartment, the Navy reported then.
The battery-powered minisub, designed to ride piggyback on an attack sub to within range of a hostile coast or other target, has been part of a troubled program that began in 1992. The vessel was delivered to the U.S. Naval Special Warfare Command in 2001 and assigned to Pearl Harbor's SEAL Delivery Vehicle Team 1 in 2003. There were initial problems with its propeller system, then problems with the electrical system and batteries.
It has a crew of two and can transport up to 16 SEALs.
A 2003 General Accounting Office report said the program, which initially called for six vessels, was to cost $527 million but rose to more than $2 billion.
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