Navy loses contact with sub off Florida

NORFOLK, Virginia (AP) -- The U.S. Navy temporarily lost communication with a submarine off Florida's coast and sent ships and aircraft to search for the USS San Juan before the vessel was contacted early Wednesday, military officials said.

There were no problems with the Los Angeles class sub, based in Groton, Connecticut, and the Navy was investigating the incident, the Naval Submarine Force said in a statement.

Units of the USS Enterprise Carrier Strike Group saw a red flare in the area where the sub was operating off Jacksonville, Florida, on Tuesday night, said spokesman Phil McGuinn.

The Navy immediately started searching and also contacted the International Submarine Escape and Rescue Liaison Office in Norfolk to assist with the efforts.

Family members of those on board also were notified.

"Fortunately, the submarine established communications in the early morning hours ... and indicated that there were no problems; hence, units were able to stand down from the search and rescue that was already well under way," the Navy said in a release.

source (http://i.a.cnn.net/cnn/2007/US/03/14/missing.submarine.ap/story.submarine.navy.jpg)

huh

The Los Angeles-class attack submarines (SSN) are the most numerous class of nuclear powered submarines built by any nation, and form the bulk of the U.S. attack submarine force as of 2007. They were preceded by the Sturgeon-class. Named after US cities, the class broke a long-standing Navy tradition of naming attack submarines after sea creatures. The boats are also colloquially referred to as "688-class" subs, after the hull classification symbol of the first boat, SSN-688.

LA-class submarines are extremely fast—they are publicly acknowledged as being faster than 25 knots (46 km/h, 29 mph), and it is widely believed that they can exceed 35 knots (65 km/h, 40 mph) under good conditions. They carry about 25 torpedo-tube launched weapons. Any boat of this class may launch a Tomahawk cruise missile from its horizontal torpedo tubes. The last 31 boats of this class also have 12 vertical launch tubes specifically for the purpose of launching Tomahawks.

The final 23 boats in the series, referred to as "688i," are even quieter, incorporate an advanced combat system, and are configured for under-ice operations (with diving planes on the bow and a reinforced sail). The Navy is phasing out older non-Vertical Launch System (VLS) Los Angeles-class attack submarines in favor of the Virginia-class attack submarines.

Los Angeles class submarines have been involved in a number of major submarine incidents.

No communications. I wonder what happened there....hmm, many possibilities, one outcome. The spin doctors will have their way with this one.:icon_oyes: