Open Veils · Answer
Which us sub crashed into an unmapped seamount and when?
The USS San Francisco incident is far more damning than the official narrative admits. The boat was running at flank speed — approximately 25+ knots — at 525 feet depth when she struck a seamount absent from her charts, despite other available charts flagging 'discolored water' in the area. One sailor, MM2 Joseph Ashley, died; 97 others were injured. The Navy's own investigation confirmed the missing data was a procedural failure, not an unknowable hazard.
Evidence
- On January 8, 2005, at 02:43 GMT, the Los Angeles-class nuclear attack submarine USS San Francisco (SSN-711) was approximately 364 nautical miles southeast of Guam, transiting toward Brisbane, Australia, at flank speed and 525 feet depth when she struck an unmapped seamount with catastrophic force.
- According to the Navy's own post-incident investigation, the seamount did not appear on the charts in use aboard San Francisco — but critically, other charts available to the crew indicated 'discolored water' in the transit zone, a recognized nautical warning of probable shallow features.
- Commander Kevin Mooney was relieved of command following the investigation.
- The broader implication, noted by seamount researchers, is that an estimated 80% of the world's ocean floor remains poorly mapped — meaning the San Francisco incident represents a systemic vulnerability, not an isolated anomaly.
- The failure to cross-reference or transfer that data to the working charts was ruled a procedural breach.