THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, May 31, 1996 TAG: 9605310480
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JACK DORSEY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: 51 lines
The skipper of the submarine Jacksonville has been relieved of command while the Navy investigates the sub's May 17 collision with a Saudi Arabian container ship.
The accident off the Virginia Beach coast was the third to befall the Jacksonville in the same vicinity.
Ironically, the ship it struck the first time - in 1982 - was nearby during the recent collision, headed to sea in fog-shrouded weather.
Cmdr. John Yarbro Jr., an 18-year Navy veteran who had commanded the 360-foot fast attack submarine just over a year, was relieved Wednesday as an administrative step, said Lt. Cmdr. Mark McCaffrey, a spokesman for Submarine Forces Atlantic.
Cmdr. Richard N. Current, formerly on the staff of Submarine Squadron 8, has been named interim commanding officer.
The Jacksonville's rudder and starboard side diving plane were damaged. It collided with the 657-foot container ship Saudi Makkah about 9:30 a.m., six miles southeast of the Chesapeake Light Tower.
A 21-foot gash on the port side of the Saudi Makkah caused minor flooding.
The Navy has not released an explanation of the accident's cause.
Both vessels returned to port under their own power. No injuries were reported aboard either ship. The Saudi Makkah carried a crew of 30; the Jacksonville, a crew of 143.
The submarine is awaiting drydock at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard, where a thorough appraisal of its damage will be made, said McCaffrey. No preliminary estimate of the damage was available, he said.
The Jacksonville's star-crossed history began just a year after its 1981 commissioning, when it collided with the Turkish freighter General Z. Dogan on March 22, 1982.
That accident, which caused more than $2 million in damage to the sub, happened 25 miles east of Cape Charles while the submarine was heading out of port and the freighter was inbound.
On Sept. 21, 1984, the Jacksonville collided with a 270-foot, three-section Navy barge at the entrance to the Chesapeake Bay. Again, there were no injuries, but the submarine sustained $500,000 in damage to its bow-mounted sonar dome.
The General Z. Dogan was again in the area during last week's mishap, according to Martin Moynihan of the Port of Richmond. It had called on the state capital to discharge a cargo of Turkish tobacco, and left on the James River two days before the May 17 collision.
Although Moynihan was unsure of its whereabouts on May 17, other maritime officials confirmed it was headed to sea and in the vicinity at the time. However, it was in no way involved, the officials said.
KEYWORDS: INCIDENTS AT SEA U.S. NAVY by CNB