USS Miami (SSN-755)

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For other ships of the same name, see USS Miami.
USS Miami in Port Everglades
USS Miami moored to a pier in Port Everglades, Florida (2004)
Career (US)
Name: USS Miami
Namesake: The City of Miami, Florida
Awarded: 28 November 1983
Builder: General Dynamics Electric Boat
Laid down: 24 October 1986
Launched: 12 November 1988
Sponsored by: Mrs. Jane P. Wilkinson
Commissioned: 30 June 1990
Homeport: Groton, Connecticut
Status: Ship seriously damaged by arson on 23 May 2012.[1] Currently undergoing repairs.
Badge: 755insig.png
General characteristics
Class & type: Los Angeles-class submarine
Displacement: 5,751 long tons (5,843 t) light
6,146 long tons (6,245 t) full
395 long tons (401 t) dead
Length: 110.3 m (361 ft 11 in)
Beam: 10 m (32 ft 10 in)
Draft: 9.4 m (30 ft 10 in)
Propulsion: S6G nuclear reactor
Complement: 12 officers, 98 men

USS Miami (SSN-755) is a United States Navy attack submarine of the Los Angeles class. She is the third vessel of the U.S. Navy to be named after Miami, Florida. The contract to build her was awarded to the Electric Boat division of General Dynamics Corporation in Groton, Connecticut, on 28 November 1983 and her keel was laid down on 24 October 1986. She was launched on 12 November 1988 and commissioned on 30 June 1990 with Commander Thomas W. Mader in command.

On 1 March 2012 the Miami pulled into Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Kittery, Maine for a scheduled 20-month Engineered Overhaul (EOH) and system upgrades. A civilian employee started a fire aboard the boat on 23 May 2012. It impacted the forward compartment of the submarine which includes crew living, command and control spaces and torpedo room. The Navy's revised estimate to restore the USS Miami increased to cost approximately $450 million with completion estimated on 30 April 2015. However, the Navy is rethinking its commitment to repairing the sub due to restricted budget problems.[2]

Contents

Fire [edit]

At 5:41 p.m. EDT on 23 May 2012, fire crews were called with a report of a fire on the USS Miami while being overhauled at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine. At the time the submarine was on a scheduled 20-month maintenance cycle,[3][4] indicating the submarine was undergoing an extensive overhaul called "The Engineered Overhaul".[5] Injuries to seven firefighters have been reported by national media.[6] One crewmember suffered broken ribs when he fell down an open hatch during the fire.[7] It took firefighters more than 12 hours to extinguish the fire.[8]

Originally the Navy reported that the fire started when an industrial vacuum cleaner, used "to clean worksites on the sub after shipyard workers’ shifts," sucked up a heat source that ignited debris inside the vacuum. On 23 July 2012 a civilian employee Casey J. Fury, was charged and confessed to starting the fire in order to "get out of work early". Fury admitted to setting the 23 May fire, having ignited some rags on the top bunk of a bunk room.[9][10][11][12] Fury was sentenced to over 17 years in federal prison and ordered to pay $400 million in restitution.[13]

The Navy Department debated on whether to scrap the ship. Both US Senators from Maine—where the shipyard is located—advocated repairing her.[14] The United States Navy asked Congress to add $220 million to the operations and maintenance budget for emergent and unfunded ship repairs which will be used to help repair the Miami.[15] The final outcome was a choice to repair the submarine at an estimated total cost of $450 million, the USS Miami is expected to return to service sometime in 2015.[16] However congressional inaction to fully resolve the United States fiscal cliff has put this in doubt.[17]

To keep costs down, spare parts from the recently decommissioned USS Memphis will be used to repair the Miami.[18] Furthermore, integrity checks on the hull didn't show changes to its metallurgy or strength. Fixing the internal sections will be much cheaper than replacing hull sections.[19] At first glance it seems more prudent to repair USS Miami in the same manner as USS San Francisco since such a repair would cost "only" (around) 80 million USD.[20] However, it should be noted that the hull of USS Memphis is already 26 years old (as of 2012). The Memphis is also a different version (or "flight") of 688 submarine, as it was not built with the vertical launch system that the newer Miami has, thus making the Memphis' hull incompatible with that of the Miami.[21]

CO's Stateroom Door [edit]

The Commanding Officer's stateroom door displayed a quote from Richard McKenna's 1962 novel The Sand Pebbles.

"We serve the flag. The trade we follow is the give and take of death. It is for that purpose the American people maintain us. Any one of us who believes he has a job like any other, for which he draws a money wage, is a thief of the food he eats and a trespasser in the bunk in which he lies down to sleep!" -LT Collins.

In literature [edit]

USS Miami was the focus of Tom Clancy's first non-fiction book Submarine: A Guided Tour Inside a Nuclear Warship ISBN 0-425-13873-9.

Wikimedia Commons Gallery [edit]

  • Tugs maneuver the USS Miami into a berth at Port Everglades, Florida. (17 Jul. 1993)

  • A bow on view looking down on the USS Miami resting in the auxiliary medium repair dock Shippingport (ARDM-4) during a routine hull inspection at Naval Submarine Base Groten. (16 Mar. 1994)

  • The USS Miami, homeported in Groton, Conn., sits moored to a pier as Sailors prepare to participate in Fleet Week. The Fleet Week celebration is an annual tradition thanking our nation's seagoing personnel for their dedicated service to our country. (26 Apr. 2004)

  • Sailors aboard USS Miami man the rails as they prepare to moor at Port Everglades Fla., for Fleet Week. The Fleet Week celebration is an annual tradition thanking our nation's seagoing personnel for their dedicated service to our country. (26 Apr. 2004)

  • Navy Diver 3rd Class Kurt Eberle waits for a tool bag before he begins a dive project in support of the USS Miami. Eberle is assigned to Naval Submarine Support Facility dive locker Subase, New London. (7 Feb. 2007)

  • The USS Miami surfaces in the North Arabian Sea during an anti-submarine warfare (ASW) exercise with the Enterprise Carrier Strike Group. The three-day, multi-unit exercise is aimed at enhancing the strike group's ASW capabilities. USS Miami is underway on a scheduled deployment as part of the Kearsarge Expeditionary Strike Group. (11 Nov. 2007)

  • Santa Claus stands with Sailors aboard the USS Miami during the submarine's return to Naval Submarine Base New London after an eight-month deployment. (2 Dec. 2009)

  • Sailors aboard the USS Miami man the rails as the submarine transits the Thames River en route to Naval Submarine Base New London after a six-month deployment. (2 Dec. 2009)

  • Sailors aboard the nuclear submarine Nautilus salute the Sailors aboard the USS Miami as Miami returns home to Naval Submarine Base New London following a six-month deployment. (2 Dec. 2009)

  • Rear Adm. Bernt Grimstvedt, chief of the Royal Norwegian Navy, looks through the periscope. Grimstvedt toured Miami during a port visit to strengthen maritime partnership with Norwegian counterparts. (11 Oct. 2011)

  • The USS Miami returns home to Submarine Base New London following a five-month deployment conducting operations in the U.S. 6th Fleet area of responsibility. (15 Dec. 2011)

  • The USS Miami returns home to Submarine Base New London following a five-month deployment conducting operations in the U.S. 6th Fleet area of responsibility. (15 Dec. 2011)

  • The USS Miami enters dry dock to begin an engineered overhaul at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard. (15 Mar. 2012)

See also [edit]

References [edit]

  1. ^ "Navy Assesses Sub". AP at google.com. Retrieved 2012-05-25. 
  2. ^ Navy: Repairs to submarine Miami now uncertain - Militarytimes.com, March 18, 2013
  3. ^ "Fire Extinguished On Nuclear Submarine In Maine « CBS Boston". Boston.cbslocal.com. 24 May 2012. Retrieved 2013-02-16. 
  4. ^ "Fire reported on nuclear-powered submarine at Maine shipyard". Necn.com. 23 May 2012. Retrieved 2013-02-16. 
  5. ^ John Pike (29 October 2003). "SSN-688 Los Angeles-class". Globalsecurity.org. Retrieved 2013-02-16. 
  6. ^ ABC's Good Morning America 24 May 2012
  7. ^ Sharp, David, "Nuclear Submarine Fire Sparks Two Navy Probes", Portland Press Herald, 10 September 2012
  8. ^ "News". Times Colonist. Retrieved 2013-02-16. 
  9. ^ "Navy: No update on USS Miami investigation". boston.com. Retrieved 2012-07-02. 
  10. ^ "Suspect in $400M sub blaze appears in court". seacoastonline.com. Retrieved 2012-07-23. 
  11. ^ "Man charged in fire on USS Miami". www.wcvb.com. Retrieved 2012-07-23. 
  12. ^ [1][dead link]
  13. ^ Shipyard worker sentenced to 17 years for $400 million submarine fire
  14. ^ "Navy: Fire on nuclear sub started in vacuum cleaner". Pressherald.com. 7 June 2012. Retrieved 2013-02-16. 
  15. ^ "Links to USS Miami fire explored". theday.com. Retrieved 2012-07-23. 
  16. ^ "USS Miami Expected Back In Service In 2015". www.courant.com. Retrieved 2012-08-22. 
  17. ^ "Navy: Repairs to submarine Miami now uncertain."
  18. ^ [2][dead link]
  19. ^ Fire and Fixes aboard USS Miami - Defenseindustrydaily.com, 2 October 2012
  20. ^ "Transplant complete, attack sub floats again - Navy News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq". Navy Times. Retrieved 2013-02-16. 
  21. ^ http://www.public.navy.mil/subfor/csg2/Pages/USSMemphis(SSN691).aspx

External links [edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: USS Miami (SSN-755)

This article includes information collected from the public domain sources Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships and Naval Vessel Register.
688
VLS
688I
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