USS Connecticut (SSN 22) struck an object while submerged on Oct. 2

Former Navy submarine officer here. This sucks, but it happens. (It happened to a boat I was on.)<p>It could be hitting the bottom of the ocean (which nearly killed 130+ people on the USS San Francisco years ago - <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;USS_San_Francisco_(SSN-711)#Collision_with_seamount" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;USS_San_Francisco_(SSN-711)#Co...</a>), it could be hitting another ship above it (coming to and&#x2F;or operating at periscope depth is dangerous), or potentially another sub.<p>Invariably people get fired, and whatever happens becomes a lesson learned that the Navy trains on in the future.

I understand the motives behind keeping it vague, but at a certain point doesn&#x27;t the vagueness remove all value? What is the point in releasing a statement effectively saying &quot;Our sub hit an unknown object for an unknown reason in an unknown location and the damages are unknown but do not threaten the ship&quot;? Why say anything at all at this point?

<i>USS Connecticut (SSN 22) struck an object while submerged on Oct. 2, while operating in international waters in the Indo-Pacific region.</i><p>A Sea Wolf attack submarine struct something in the South China Sea. I get the feeling it hit another sub or some anti-sub defense. This is definitely a non-good event.

&gt; &quot;The safety of the crew remains the Navy’s top priority.&quot;<p>Can any military really say this with a straight face? It&#x27;s obviously <i>not</i> their top priority. If it was, they wouldn&#x27;t be packing actual live humans into a pressurized nuclear-powered tube packed with explosives and send them into the black. Not to mention that whole &quot;going to war&quot; thing they occasionally do. That&#x27;s pretty risky stuff, or so I hear.<p>Sorry for the snark. One can only take so much BS per hour, and I just got out of a meeting so my tolerance was low.

Some additional information. <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.usni.org&#x2F;2021&#x2F;10&#x2F;07&#x2F;breaking-attack-submarine-uss-connecticut-suffers-underwater-in-pacific" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.usni.org&#x2F;2021&#x2F;10&#x2F;07&#x2F;breaking-attack-submarine-u...</a><p>Looks like 11 sailors were hurt. Very interesting indeed. Some sort of reconnaissance buoy? Or perhaps they were traveling close to the bottom of the South China Sea and hit the bottom? China considers the South China Sea an internal lake, so they would think they’re within their rights to mine it or otherwise defend it with submarine nets or booms. I imagine within the context of a larger conflict the PLAN would enact all sorts of submarine countermeasures in the South China Sea. This is why the lack of clarity&#x2F;conflict regarding ownership of that body of water is so dangerous for the rest of the world.

&quot;As for what the submarine hit, details remain limit. U.S. officials have reportedly said that there are no indications at present that the &quot;object&quot; was another submarine. &quot;An official who requested anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak on the record said that the area’s topography at the time did not indicate there was a land mass in front of the boat,&quot; Military Times reported.&quot;<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.thedrive.com&#x2F;the-war-zone&#x2F;42669&#x2F;one-of-the-navys-prized-seawolf-class-submarines-has-suffered-an-underwater-collision" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.thedrive.com&#x2F;the-war-zone&#x2F;42669&#x2F;one-of-the-navys...</a>

Maybe it was one of the USOs that have been hanging out off the coast of California that like to mess with the USS Nimitz

This article from Navy Times is worth a read: “Maybe today’s Navy is just not very good at driving ships.”<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.navytimes.com&#x2F;news&#x2F;your-navy&#x2F;2017&#x2F;08&#x2F;27&#x2F;navy-swos-a-culture-in-crisis&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.navytimes.com&#x2F;news&#x2F;your-navy&#x2F;2017&#x2F;08&#x2F;27&#x2F;navy-swo...</a>

7th fleet being 7th fleet. Being accident prone is better than the alternative - UAV tech out there Seawolf can&#x27;t detect, or worse UAV tech that can detect Seawolf and decided to touch.

I wonder if this is all part of the game China and the US are playing. US gives AUKUS nuclear sub tech, China bops one of our most advanced nuclear sub classes...

So, a UUO? (Unidentified Underwater Object)?

Finally aware this is one of the 3 most advance submarines of USA !

Perhaps Chinese subs break checking Americans.

The hunt for blue-red october can start :).

Did they finally find the MH370?

maybe it hit a pipeline while it was trying to splice fiber-optic cables?<p>You know what these subs are doing, right?

It&#x27;s important to note this is a Nuclear sub. <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.popularmechanics.com&#x2F;military&#x2F;weapons&#x2F;a37898620&#x2F;uss-connecticut-suffers-underwater-collision&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.popularmechanics.com&#x2F;military&#x2F;weapons&#x2F;a37898620&#x2F;...</a> If the Navy can&#x27;t successfully run these complicated machines, perhaps we need to re-think the USA&#x27;s need for submarine assets in the first place. Or at least, the role of the Nuclear Submarine in 21st Century warfare; perhaps fewer, higher-tech units --- with crack seal-type units only operating them --- might make more sense. High automation. Robotics. Things like that. For sure, never give a meatbag a job better performed by automation.