Twenty years ago, on the night of May 21, 2002, a leaking gasket caused the submarine Dolphin to flood in heavy seas and about 100 miles southwest of San Diego. The flooding caused an electrical fire and shorted out all power.
Only the extraordinary efforts of the crew kept the San Diego-based sub from sinking. The 41 sailors and two passengers aboard barely escaped.
The Navy spent $50 million on repairs and upgrades before returning the Dolphin to service in late 2005. But a few months later, budget pressures prompted the Pentagon to decommission it Sept. 22, 2006. The Dolphin is now part of the Maritime Museum of San Diego.
From The San Diego Union-Tribune, Thursday, May 23, 2002:
Rough seas delay salvage of stricken vessel after flooding and fire force crew to abandon
By James W. Crawley and Kristen Green, Staff Writers
The Navy was waiting for calmer seas late yesterday before trying to tow its last diesel submarine, the Dolphin, back to San Diego after it began flooding and caught fire Tuesday night, forcing its crew to abandon ship.
All 43 people on board were rescued.
The stricken sub was drifting last night about 100 miles southwest of San Diego, near the Cortes Bank. A Navy-leased ship, the Kellie Chouest, was dispatched to tow the Dolphin, but the seas were too rough, Navy officials said.
“Right now, the vessel’s stable and safe and we want to keep it that way,” said Lt. Cmdr. Greg Geisen, a Navy spokesman.
Many crew members leaped overboard in 10-foot waves and frigid waters about 1 a.m. Wednesday before being rescued by a research boat, a Navy frigate and a Coast Guard helicopter. There were no serious injuries.
The pilot of a rescue helicopter described a harrowing scene as sailors scrambled onto the sub’s cylindrical hull, holding onto a single steel safety cable while being hammered by waves. About a dozen sailors were swept off the narrow deck into the violent sea.
More jumped voluntarily and swam about 100 yards to the research boat William McGaw, which was operating with the submarine.
“It was complete chaos when people got washed off (the submarine),” said Coast Guard helicopter pilot Lt. Cmdr. Mark Ryan. “The sub was black, dead in the water and taking heavy rolls.”
The submarine was commissioned in 1968.
Built for research and equipment testing, the Dolphin is 165 feet long and 18 feet across, much smaller than the Navy’s nuclear attack submarines. It doesn’t have torpedoes.
It holds the official world record for deepest submarine dive, 3,000 feet, set soon after its commissioning. During its long career, the vessel has been modified several times and was last overhauled in 1993.
Unlike nuclear submarines, the Dolphin uses batteries to power electric motors for submerged cruising. It must surface for fresh air and to run diesel generators to recharge its massive lead-acid batteries.
The sub left San Diego Monday for a weeklong test of torpedoes, Geisen said.
The Dolphin was cruising on the surface, recharging its batteries, when it started flooding, said Capt. Bruce Smith, who oversees local submarine operations. Soon, a fire was reported on board.
After 90 minutes, Cmdr. Stephen Kelety, the Dolphin’s skipper, ordered the crew to abandon ship. Navy spokesmen yesterday did not know whether the threat of fire, poisonous fumes or flooding prompted the decision to leave.
“The commanding officer is paid to make that decision and apparently they executed it quite well,” said Smith.
A crew of 41 and two civilian Navy employees were on board, officials said.
Navy officials yesterday said the incident is under investigation.
“They got some incursion of water and possibly that caused the fire,” Smith said. Early reports suggest that water flowed into the sub through an open hatch used to ventilate the diesel generator that recharges its batteries, according to Navy sources who asked not to be named.
A pump may have shorted, failed or overheated, causing a fire, possibly in the vessel’s battery compartment, several sources speculated.
“Fire and flooding at the same time -- it’s probably the most dangerous situation on a submarine,” said Bud Kauderer, a retired submarine vice admiral.
Especially serious, he said, would be a fire in the battery compartment. Saltwater, either from flooding or used to battle fires, can combine with battery acid to produce deadly chlorine gas. Also, flames can quickly consume the oxygen on board.
Fighting a fire on a sub is complicated by the tight spaces and the need to wear emergency breathing masks, said Harry Mathis, a retired sub captain who served on a diesel submarine.
“I think you can gauge the seriousness (of the situation) in that they took everyone off,” said Mathis, a former San Diego city councilman.
The first distress calls were received about 11:30 p.m. Tuesday, Coast Guard officials said. Several Navy helicopters were dispatched in addition to the Coast Guard helicopter.
After an hourlong flight, helicopter pilot Ryan arrived above the Dolphin as Kelety ordered his crew off.
Under the glare of his copter’s searchlight, the pilot could see the sub’s hull was awash as the crew clung to the steel safety cable.
“It was an incredible sight -- the whole crew was topside holding onto a line,” Ryan recalled. “They were getting pounded by the waves.”
After one large wave swept over the sub, Ryan saw several sailors tossed into the sea.
“All I saw was elbows and butts and legs flying around. They were getting tossed like rag dolls,” Ryan said in an interview yesterday.
Two sailors were pulled from the water by the helicopter and flown back to San Diego.
Others swam to the 106-foot-long research vessel and were pulled aboard.
As sailors went into the frigid waters, the helicopter’s spotlight illuminated them until they were picked up by a small boat from the frigate Thach or were hauled aboard the William McGaw, Ryan said.
Helicopter crew members watched anxiously as several sailors were momentarily sucked beneath the waves after jumping from the submarine. But all were rescued, with only a few sustaining minor injuries.
The Thach’s boat plucked at least seven crewmen from the Dolphin’s hull, including the two senior officers.
Throughout the ordeal, Ryan said, an American flag waved stiffly in the 25-knot wind from the sub’s mast.
Except for the pair rescued by the Coast Guard, the sailors returned yesterday afternoon aboard the McGaw and were reunited with family members.
The rescued sailors were met at the Point Loma Sub Base by Pacific Fleet commander Adm. Walter Doran, who flew to San Diego yesterday to monitor the situation.
Doran shook each sailor’s hand and patted many on the back in a subdued reunion on the pier. Most left for home and will return today for interviews with investigators.
The last time a U.S. submarine caught fire and was abandoned was in 1988, when the diesel sub Bonefish lost three sailors in a battery compartment fire.
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