How did the USS San Francisco Smash Into an UnderSea Mountain?

By Kris Osborn, President, Center for Military Modernization

(Washington DC) Human error and the limits of undersea technology appear to have caused the USS San Francisco submarine to collide with an undersea “seamount” or mountain in the Pacific south of Guam in 2005.

The tragedy is remembered because the crash resulted in the death of one sailor and injury to as many as 97 crewmembers.

The Wrong Set of Charts for USS San Francisco

What could have gone wrong?

There appears to be a blend of circumstances, variables, or causes responsible for the incident, one of which suggests human error.

A Navy investigation found that the submarine was traveling at maximum speed at a depth of 525 feet when it struck the seamount, a structure not on the charts being used by submarine commanders.

The service’s analysis of the crash found that submarine commanders “should have known” the undersea mountain was there based on “charts in their possession which indicated a navigational hazard in the area,” a 2021 CNN article explained.

“If San Francisco’s leaders and watch teams had complied with requisite procedures and exercised prudent navigation practices, the grounding would most likely have been avoided,” the Navy report said, as quoted in the CNN article. “Even if not wholly avoided, however, the grounding would not have been as severe and loss of life may be been prevented.”