USS ''Newport News'' (SSN-750), a , is the third ship of the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

to be named for Newport News, Virginia. The contract to build her was awarded to

Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company Newport News Shipbuilding (NNS), a division of Huntington Ingalls Industries, is the largest industrial employer in Virginia, and sole designer, builder and refueler of United States Navy aircraft carriers and one of two providers of U.S. Navy ...

in Newport News, Virginia on 19 April 1982 and her keel was laid down on 3 March 1984. She was launched on 15 March 1986 sponsored by Mrs. Rosemary D. Trible, and commissioned on 3 June 1989. Mayor Jessie M. Rattley presented the ship with a commemorative plaque containing the poem "Newport News," written by Newport News native Ronald W. Bell, whose poem " Admiral Rickover" also appears upon a plaque aboard the ''Los Angeles''-class submarine .

Collision with Japanese ship

On 8 January 2007, ''Newport News'' was operating submerged in the

Arabian Sea The Arabian Sea ( ar, اَلْبَحرْ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Bahr al-ˁArabī) is a region of the northern Indian Ocean bounded on the north by Pakistan, Iran and the Gulf of Oman, on the west by the Gulf of Aden, Guardafui Channel ...

south of the

Straits of Hormuz The Strait of Hormuz ( fa, تنگه هرمز ''Tangeh-ye Hormoz'' ar, مَضيق هُرمُز ''Maḍīq Hurmuz'') is a strait between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. It provides the only sea passage from the Persian Gulf to the o ...

when the submarine hit Japanese tanker ''Mogamigawa''. She had been operating as part of Carrier Strike Group 8 (CSG-8), organized around the aircraft carrier . The

Carrier Strike Group A carrier strike group (CSG) is a type of carrier battle group of the United States Navy. It is an operational formation composed of roughly 7,500 personnel, usually an aircraft carrier, at least one cruiser, a destroyer squadron of at least t ...

was redeploying to the Indian Ocean to support a maritime cordon during the war in Somalia when the incident happened. ''Newport News'' suffered damage to her bow, but there was no damage to the sail, mast or reactor, and she made for port in

Bahrain Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and an ...

under her own power. ''Newport News'' was escorted from the mouth of the Straits of Hormuz to Bahrain by the

Guided Missile Destroyer A guided-missile destroyer (DDG) is a destroyer whose primary armament is guided missiles so they can provide anti-aircraft warfare screening for the fleet. The NATO standard designation for these vessels is DDG, while destroyers who have a prim ...

. This was due to the fact that the submarine was unable to transit submerged and has no surface defense capabilities. During the transit, Iranian aircraft and warships shadowed the ships. An official of the Kawasaki Kisen Company (or

K Line is a Japanese transportation company. It owns a fleet that includes dry cargo ships (bulk carriers), container ships, liquefied natural gas carriers, Ro-Ro ships, tankers, and container terminals. It used to be the fourteenth largest contai ...

), which owns the tanker, announced that ''Mogamigawa''s hull and propellers were damaged. According to a Navy spokesman, the collision occurred as a result of the

venturi effect The Venturi effect is the reduction in fluid pressure that results when a fluid flows through a constricted section (or choke) of a pipe. The Venturi effect is named after its discoverer, the 18th century Italian physicist, Giovanni Battista ...

. The tanker passed over the area where the submarine was submerged and this created a sucking effect that forced the submarine upward to the surface. The incident was the third collision between a US nuclear-powered submarine and a Japanese civilian ship. On 29 January, after the boat returned to Bahrain for repairs, administrative personnel actions, also known as Admiral's Masts, were taken against several members of her crew, which included relieving the boat's commanding officer of command due to a lack of confidence in his ability to command. On 10 April the Iranian Fars News Agency reported that ''Newport News'' has been leaking radioactive and chemical pollution into the Persian Gulf and claimed that following this formal complaint, the ship departed the gulf for a complete overhaul. The US Navy Fifth Fleet denied this claim restating that damage was limited to the bow and that the sail, mast and reactors were not damaged. On 2 October 2007 the US Navy agreed to pay Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha Ltd, the company that owns ''Mogamigawa'' an undisclosed amount in compensation for the collision.

Gallery

Image:USS Newport News SSN-750 Oct04 depart.jpg, ''Newport News'' departing Souda Bay, Greece, 2004 Image:USS Newport News SSN-750 Oct04 aft.jpg, ''Newport News'' off the coast of

Crete Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, ...

, 2004 Image:USS Newport News (SSN-750).jpg, ''Newport News'' with '' in Norfolk, Virginia, 2005

References

External links

US Navy Commander Submarine Group Two
{{DEFAULTSORT:Newport News (SSN-750) Los Angeles-class submarines Cold War submarines of the United States Nuclear submarines of the United States Navy United States submarine accidents Maritime incidents in 2007 Japan–United States relations Non-combat naval accidents International maritime incidents Ships built in Newport News, Virginia 1986 ships Submarines of the United States