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Nuclear missile allegedly damaged
Nuclear missile allegedly damaged
Web site says Navy called 'broken arrow' aboard Bangor sub
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/164280_nuke11.html
By MIKE BARBER
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
Was it a "broken arrow" at the Trident submarine base in Bangor
in November that led to the firing a month later of the Navy
leadership overseeing nuclear weapons there?
The code words used by the Joint Chiefs of Staff for the most
severe level of a nuclear weapon mishap reportedly were invoked
Nov. 7 when a Trident I C4 missile was damaged while being
removed from the submarine USS Georgia in Bangor.
The allegation was raised over the weekend at a watchdog Web
site, jaghunters.blogspot.com, run by a former Navy officer, Walt
Fitzpatrick of Bremerton. Fitzpatrick has had a significant beef
with the military justice system for 16 years, which the Seattle
Post-Intelligencer has reported previously. Fitzpatrick yesterday
said he drew upon Navy sources for his information about the
missile incident, which has drawn the interest of U.S. Rep. Norm
Dicks.
As the P-I reported in December, the top leadership of the
Strategic Weapons Facility, Pacific -- responsible for handling
intercontinental ballistic missiles at Bangor -- was sacked on
the spot. Three officers have been reassigned and three enlisted
men face courts-martial on lesser charges.
According to Fitzpatrick, the Nov. 7 incident happened when the
missile from tube No. 16 was hauled up and smacked into an access
ladder that had been left in the tube, slicing a 9-inch hole in
the missile's nose cone.
The ladder is placed inside the silo after the tube hatch is
opened so a sailor can climb inside to attach a hoist to lift the
intercontinental ballistic missile out of the tube. After
attaching the hoist, the sailor climbs out and the ladder is to
be removed before the missile is lifted out.
The crew members reportedly took a break, and when they returned,
they began to hoist out the missile without removing the ladder,
damaging the nose cone. Although there would not have been a
nuclear explosion, a radiation release or non-nuclear explosion
was possible, Fitzpatrick claims.
That didn't happen, though the base's civilian emergency services
allies yesterday wanted to know more.
Kitsap County Sheriff Steve Boyer said yesterday that his office
was not notified of any incident involving nuclear-tipped
missiles last fall. Boyer was surprised yesterday when he heard
of the incident from a reporter. He described cooperation with
the Navy as excellent, particularly since the 9/11 terrorist
attacks.
Phyllis Mann, who as director of Kitsap County's Emergency
Management Division works with the Navy and monitors Navy
incidents, said county and state records show no "broken arrow"
was reported as is required. Defense Department directives
require the FBI as lead civilian agency to be notified, as well
as local and state emergency services.
"Based upon our relationships with the bases, we would expect to
be notified if there was a public safety health threat," Mann
said.
She's not surprised, however. If the missile was banged up but
nothing was released, reporting of the incident might not be
required.
Navy officials here and in Washington, D.C., refused to discuss
the allegations, citing a strict Defense Department "neither
confirm nor deny" directive concerning nuclear weapons to keep
potential or real enemies guessing.
Regarding the disciplinary action meted out in December and the
reasons behind it, Pam Sims, spokeswoman for the Strategic
Systems Program in Washington, D.C., that oversees the strategic
weapons units on each coast, could say little.
"Safety is paramount in everything we do in the Navy and a
primary focus for our leadership at every level of command," she
said.
The neither-confirm-nor-deny policy, however, handcuffs the Navy
from explaining the incident, and stirred up questions from Dicks
and activists who have been monitoring the base for years.
"We are working with the Navy to see what may have happened and
to see what guidelines they have" for weapons accidents, said
George Behan, spokesman for Dicks, who sits on key defense
committees.
Dicks' office yesterday contacted Rear Adm. Charles Young, head
of the Strategic Systems Program in the Washington, D.C.,
headquarters of the nation's "nuclear Navy."
The issue echoes concerns raised in January by Glen Milner, 52, a
peace activist and member of Ground Zero, a citizens group that
has protested outside Bangor over the nuclear weapons issue for
years and filed lawsuits over safety concerns.
"What would happen in a missile loading accident at the wharf?"
Milner asked in a letter to the P-I early this year.
Ground Zero recently won a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit
that showed 53 less severe "incidents" prior to 1986 involving
submarine-launched missiles. Sixteen were classified as
potentially serious. Even if it's unlikely a nuclear warhead
would be detonated, the potential remains for a plutonium release
or an explosion from the Trident's missile propellant.
Adding Fitzpatrick's concerns to his own, Milner said, "What is
most outrageous is that while on Nov. 7 when this ladder is
impaled into this nose cone of this missile, imagine the sailors
not knowing how far in, or whether it would blow up" creating an
instant "dirty" bomb.
"It's shocking that the Navy didn't reveal anything," he said.
So strict are the Navy's protocols for handling nuclear weapons
that overlooking the smallest details results in discipline. The
accident immediately shut down the strategic weapons facility.
Fitzpatrick said the unit's failure to pass a subsequent
inspection resulted in the firings.
As the P-I reported in December, Capt. Keith Lyles, commander of
Bangor's strategic weapons unit was fired on the spot Dec. 19.
Also relieved of duty in what Fitzpatrick says has been coined
the "royal flush" were Lyle's executive officer, Cmdr. Phillip
Jackson, and Cmdr. Marshall Millett, weapons officer.
Young, the admiral in charge of strategic systems, cited only a
"loss of confidence" as the reasons. Three enlisted men in the
missile handling team face courts-martial involving less severe
alleged offenses.
Those who could be reached declined to comment.
Young replaced Lyles with Capt. Lawrence Lehman. Lehman, who had
led a 40-man inspection of the facility, replaced Lyles on the
spot. The facility reopened after passing inspection Jan. 9.
Although defense officials are mum on nuclear weapons, the P-I in
April 1998 reported on a Washington, D.C.-based Natural Resources
Defense Council report that said base closures and realignments
meant Washington state by 2003 could house 1,685 such weapons,
more than any other state and bigger than the nuclear forces of
Great Britain, France or China.
Fitzpatrick, meanwhile, has been a thorn in the Navy's side for
years, trying to clear his name from a court-martial conviction
that fellow officers and some congressmen say is a case of
military justice gone wrong.
Fitzpatrick was executive officer of the USS Mars when he
received a career-destroying reprimand in 1988 for failing to
properly supervise the spending of his ship's morale, welfare and
recreation money. The non-governmental funds pay for
non-government gear such as entertainment or recreational
equipment for the crew and are raised through the ship's retail
store.
The incident grew out of a terror attack. Fitzpatrick allowed the
money to be used to help Capt. Mike Nordeen, the ship's
commanding officer, when his brother, Navy Capt. William Nordeen,
was murdered in Greece by terrorists in 1988. Though the ship's
crew voted to use the money to send a contingent to the funeral,
the Navy came down on Fitzpatrick for misusing the funds.
P-I reporter Paul Shukovsky contributed to this report. P-I
reporter Mike Barber can be reached at 206-448-8018 or
mikebarber@seattlepi.com
----------
BROKEN ARROW: Hood Canal, WA.
http://jaghunters.blogspot.com/
Never handle nuclear weapons on a Monday or Friday
By Walter Francis Fitzpatrick, III
March 7, 2004
SILVERDALE, WA. . A Navy Strategic Weapons Facility, Pacific
handling crew came within inches of impacting a live Trident I C4
missile nuclear warhead during a Nov. 7, 2003 daylight dockside
offload of the USS GEORGIA (SSBN - 729) at Submarine Base,
Bangor, WA.
Subase Bangor is located on the Puget Sound.s Hood Canal, near
Silverdale, WA.
President Bush was notified immediately of the .BROKEN ARROW,. a
military code word alerting military governors of a nuclear
weapons accident. SWFPAC was shut down instantly, prohibited from
continued weapons handling evolutions. SWFPAC.s de-certification
seriously limited essential stateside military operations.
The submarine.s missile was hoisted up into an access ladder left
installed in tube #16 slicing a 9-inch hole in the nosecone. The
lift was stopped inches from one of the missiles multiple
warheads, a distance measured between thumb and forefinger.
Impact concussion, impalement, or crushing a nuclear warhead can
cause deadly plutonium air and water radiation contamination,
non-nuclear explosion, sympathetic non-nuclear explosions (other
warheads), and missile propulsion fueled fires.
Naval Criminal Investigative Service investigation ruled out
terrorist involvement or connections.
Captain Lawrence Lehman relieved SWFPAC.s former CO, Captain
Keith Lyles, on Dec. 19, 2003. Citing .loss of confidence. in
Lyles, Navy officials gave no other details in their Christmas
press release.
Rear Admiral Charles Young ordered Captain Lyles' relief for
cause . Young is responsible for the care and feeding of all
fleet ballistic missile submarine nuclear weapons.
Enlisted men on the handling team face court-martial or less
severe disciplinary action. Petty officers Robert Steel was
topside supervisor, Mark Hammock - topside team leader, and
Christopher Hamilton a topside team member.
CDR Phillip Jackson (SWFPAC.s executive officer), and CDR
Marshall Millett (weapons officer) were also canned in what.s
been coined the .royal flush..
A lift fitting must be attached to a missile before it.s hoisted
up and out of the submarine silo. The tube hatch is opened, an
access ladder affixed inside the silo above the nosecone. A
sailor climbs down the ladder, attaches the lift fitting to the
ICBM, then after connecting the hoist to the lift fitting, climbs
back up on deck.
The access ladder must be removed from above the nosecone before
the missile is lifted skyward.
On Nov. 7 2003, it wasn.t.
The handling crew took a break after making the bird in tube #16
ready for lift, leaving the access ladder in place. The sailors
returned and began the hoist. The missile was lifted into the
ladder slicing a large hole in the nosecone. The lift was stopped
a instant before warhead impact.
The accident occurred late morning after one missile had been
successfully offloaded, and another made ready for extraction.
SWFPAC failed a weeklong nuclear weapons acceptance inspection
(NWAI), ending Dec. 16, 2003, attempting new certification after
corrective measures were implemented. Capt. Lehman led the 40-man
inspection team.
Lehman was ordered to relieve the fired Capt. Lyles on the spot -
Dec. 19.
SWFPAC passed its second NWAI on Jan. 9, 2004 ending a 9-week
shut down of the nuclear weapons handling facility.
Navy seniors have issued a gag order to all military and civilian
personnel familiar with the accident that threatens court-martial
or other federal punitive action if violated.
Prevailing winds that day blew at 5 to 10 mph over courthouses in
Kitsap, Mason, and Thurston counties, and over the state house
and government campus in Olympia. Also downwind the Belfair, WA.
home of Congressman Norm Dicks.
No one was injured during the mishap or emergency response.
Other links:
SWFPAC, USS GEORGIA, and SUBASE Bangor are all situated within
Navy Region Northwest, RMDL Len Hering commanding.
USS GEORGIA is assigned to Submarine Group NINE, RADM Melvin G.
Williams, Jr. commanding.
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