Another US Navy ship out of action., page-17

In 2005, a U.S. Navy Submarine Ran Into a Mountain

The USS San Francisco didn't sink, and that's no accident.

popularmechanics.com


In 2005, the nuclear attack submarine USS San Francisco suddenly stopped dead in its tracks. The ship's crew were thrown about, some over distances of 20 feet, and the majority of the 137-member crew suffered one injury or another—including one that would later prove fatal. Further inspection would explain what happened, and reveal that the submarine's bow looked like a crushed soda can. USS San Francisco had run into an undersea mountain.

On that day, January 8, 2005, the San Francisco had been approximately 360 miles southeast of Guam, traveling at flank speed (more than 30 knots). The navigational charts used by the ship's crew failed to show a seamount, or undersea mountain, protruding from the ocean floor. The sub smashed into it head-on.