Seems that of late submarines are always in the news…
SAN JOSE, Costa Rica â€??? Authorities have captured a homemade submarine carrying 3 tons of cocaine off Costa Rica’s Pacific coast.
The 49-foot craft was found Friday, 330 miles off the coast near the national park of Isla del Coco, Security Minister Fernando Berrocal said. Four people were arrested.
Homemade? I have to admit that I’d like to see this beastie. Now, that’s not to say I’d submerge in it!
TOKYO �?? A Japanese military submarine collided with a civilian vessel during exercises in waters off southern Japan on Tuesday, defense officials said.
The Maritime Self-Defense Forces submarine grazed against an unidentified civilian cargo ship during surfacing exercises about 30 miles off the southeastern coast of Miyazaki on Japan’s southern island of Kyushu, a defense agency spokesman said on condition of anonymity by protocol.
No injuries were reported among crew members of the submarine TSS Asashio, but officials have found a dent in the vessel’s topside, the spokesman said. He said the submarine apparently hit the vessel’s hull while surfacing.
The number of crew members and the direction the submarine was heading could not be released, he said.
The spokesman said details of the civilian vessel, which was moving northward, were not immediately known.
The vessel might not have noticed the incident due to the minor impact, he added.
Lucky bastards… Other boats have not been so fortunate, including the USS Greeneville (SSN-772), USS Baton Rouge (SSN-689), and the USS Thomas A. Edison (SSN-610 (ex-SSBN)). USS Greeneville was repaired and is serving today. USS Baton Rouge was inspected and then scrapped as she was nearing her refueling/refit date (1995) anyway and the Navy sought to save money. USS Edison never submerged again and was decommissioned in 1983.
Unlike in the old movies, you just can’t peek out of a pothole and see what is out there! Stuff happens, especially in the dangerous games our submariners must play in order to defend our Freedom.
Bull, out.
