-- Neptune Papers -- Neptune Paper No. 3: Naval Accidents 1945 - 1988 by William M. Arkin and Joshua Handler Greenpeace/Institute for Policy Studies Washington, D.C. June 1989 Neptune Paper No. 3: Naval Accidents 1945-1988 Table of Contents Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 1 Overview ........................................................................................................................................ 2 Nuclear Weapons Accidents......................................................................................................... 3 Nuclear Reactor Accidents ........................................................................................................... 7 Submarine Accidents .................................................................................................................... 9 Dangers of Routine Naval Operations....................................................................................... 12 Chronology of Naval Accidents: 1945 - 1988........................................................................... 16 Appendix A: Sources and Acknowledgements........................................................................ 73 Appendix B: U.S. Ship Type Abbreviations ............................................................................ 76 Table 1: Number of Ships by Type Involved in Accidents, 1945 - 1988................................ 78 Table 2: Naval Accidents by Type of Event, 1945 - 1988 ....................................................... 79 Table 3: Surface Ship Explosive Mishaps, 1985 - 1988 .......................................................... 80 Table 4: U.S. Naval Nuclear Weapons Incidents, 1965 - 1977 ............................................... 80 Table 5: Nuclear Weapons and Reactors Lost in the Oceans ................................................ 81 Table 6: Accidents Involving Nuclear Powered Ships and Submarines, 1954 - 1988.......... 82 Table 7: Submarine Force Mishaps, 1983 - 1987 .................................................................... 83 Figure 1: Naval Accidents by Year, 1945-1988......................................................................... 84 [Note: Some changes in formatting and page number have occurred in converting this report from an older DOS-version of Wordperfect 5.1 to Word for Windows 98] i Neptune Paper No. 3: Naval Accidents 1945-1988 Introduction The sinking of the Soviet Mike class submarine and the explosion and tragic loss of life aboard the battleship USS Iowa (BB-61) in April 1989 are reminders that peacetime naval accidents are a fact of life. Since the end of World War II, the world's navies have had over 1,200 documented major accidents, resulting in dozens of ship sinkings, hundreds of explosions and fires, costly repairs and early vessel retirements, and major loss of life.1 The accidents have occurred in shipyards and ports, in harbors and coastal waters, and on the high seas throughout the world. Many of the accidents were spectacular and are well known. The majority, however, are obscure and little publicized. A comprehensive historical record of naval accidents does not exist. Official secrecy, particularly that of the Soviet Union, as well as sporadic news media interest in reporting routine accidents, are major impediments to compiling a complete record. Without full documentation, it is difficult to determine fluctuations or variations in the frequency or types of accidents. Changes in the naval accident rate, furthermore, are not necessarily related to higher or lower operating tempos. No doubt safety practices, damage preparedness, ship control technologies, and aids to better seamanship have improved greatly since World War II, but this has not eliminated serious mishaps. Naval accidents occur in a unique environment. The oceans can be violent and unrelenting. The nature of naval operations, maneuvering in close quarters in a borderless medium, the presence of explosives and other combustible materials, the fact that ships are dangerous places, full of moving machinery and electrical equipment increases the potential for accidents, whether brought on by "acts of God" or human error. There are also numerous accidents (U.S.-Soviet, western-Soviet, and others between unfriendly nations) which have resulted from aggressive or even hostile maneuvering, a reminder that routine seagoing activity carries with it unequalled potential for crisis or crisis escalation. It must also be noted that the U.S. Navy and the Soviet Navy, and to a lesser degree British, French, and Chinese navies, routinely operate warships and submarines with nuclear weapons aboard. All five nations also have nuclear-powered ships. This brings an added dimension to naval accidents, namely the potential for nuclear weapons or reactors being damaged, destroyed, or lost. The number of nuclear weapons and reactor accidents is a well- guarded secret of the military establishments, but the information available indicates that numerous serious accidents have taken place. This report concludes that there are some forty- eight nuclear warheads and seven nuclear-power reactors on the ocean floor as a result of these accidents. The purpose of this study is to establish a database of information about naval accidents, and then to investigate that record in order to assess the risks of naval activity during peacetime and crisis periods. This assessment will help answer questions about public safety surrounding the controversial nuclear ship visits to foreign (and domestic) ports. Finally, while naval arms control focuses on the large issues of the types and numbers of nuclear weapons, the day-to-day costs and potential dangers are little recognized or understood, and the long-term implications of naval nuclear propulsion are hardly even raised. 1 This report does not include accidents or damage to ships resulting from wars or military conflict, although it does include operating accidents that occurred during those conflicts which were not a result of hostilities. 1 Neptune Paper No. 3: Naval Accidents 1945-1988 Overview This report documents 1,276 accidents of the major navies of the world between 1945 and 1988. By frequency of occurrence, 406 accidents involved major surface combatants (not including aircraft carriers), 359 involved submarines, 228 involved aircraft carriers, 182 involved logistic support ships, 142 involved minor military ships, and 75 involved amphibious warships (see table 1). Seventy-five accidents were actual sinkings, 60 of military vessels, and 17 of civilian boats. The accidents have resulted in over 2,800 deaths, with U.S. and Soviet fatalities constituting about 65 percent of the total. The majority of accidents occurred in the Atlantic Ocean (624, or 49 percent), not including the Mediterranean Sea, 318 (or 25 percent) occurred in the Pacific, 110 (9 percent) occurred in the Mediterranean Sea, and 34 occurred in the Indian Ocean.2 Of the 1,276 accidents, 799 have involved naval ships of the United States. This preponderance of U.S. accidents does not mean a higher accident rate than other navies, particularly the Soviet Navy. Many hundreds more Soviet accidents are known to have occurred, but due to inadequate data and excessive secrecy, we have been unable to document their specific dates or circumstances. The accidents are divided into 12 major categories by cause (see table 2): - Collisions: The most prevalent type of major accidents has been collisions, of which there have been 456 documented cases, 190 between military ships, 184 between naval vessels and civilian ships. There have been 51 collisions involving aircraft carriers. There have also been 36 confirmed snaggings of submerged submarines by fishing trawlers or nets, and 82 collisions by ships with docks during mooring or unmooring, or with unidentified objects. - Fires: There have been 267 documented major fires aboard ships, although many more are suspected as having taken place. In addition, hundreds of minor fires have occurred at sea, during ship construction and overhauls. These have by and large not been included in the chronology. Fires are by far the most prevalent cause of ship damage, but their regular occurrence precludes a comprehensive statistical analysis. According to official Navy statistics, from 1973 to 1983 there were an average of 148 fires per year on U.S. ships or at shore bases.3 - Groundings: There have been 130 documented groundings of ships and submarines, either surface ship groundings on sandbars, rocks, and reefs, or submerged bottomings of submarines. Some of the groundings have been quite serious. For instance, the grounding of the nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine USS Nathanael Greene (SSBN-636) in the Irish Sea on 13 March 1986, ultimately led to a decision to retire the submarine early. - Explosions: There have been 114 documented explosions and other ordnance mishaps, including ammunition explosions, and explosions which were the result of fires. Between 1985 and 1988, the U.S. Navy had at least 49 ordnance detonation accidents and hundreds of ordnance malfunctions on its surface vessels (see table 3). - Equipment failures: There have been 98 documented accidents involving major material failures and equipment mishaps, not involving propulsion equipment. - Sinkings: There have been 75 documented sinkings as a result of accidents, either of military ships, or civilian ships