MEDIA SPOTLIGHT: Loose Nut Blamed for Submarine Fatality

Jason Sandefur

Editor”s Note: Articles in Media Spotlight are excerpts from publications or broadcasts that show the industry what the public is reading or hearing about fasteners and fastener companies.

The Toronto Star reported that the death of Canadian submarine Lt. Chris Saunders “started with a brass nut loose on a thick hatch far above the waves.”
Saunders, with “his lungs seared by toxic gas, collapsed as he was buckled into a harness, about to finally be rescued from a crippled submarine drifting helpless in the Irish Sea,” reporter Kelly Toughill wrote.
The HMCS Chicoutimi has been scrubbed inside and out, “but the scars of the tragedy are still clear: the bubbled paint on a bulkhead near the conning tower, the bundle of wires melted into a river of black goo, the two saucer-sized holes blown through an inch of hardened steel in the captain”s cabin floor.”
A Canadian Navy board of inquiry reported the tragedy was a “unique, unforeseen event that could not possibly have been anticipated” and for which no one is to blame.
After setting sail in October 2004, “a technician discovered a loose nut on a hatch at the top of the conning tower,” the Star reported. “The nut had to be fixed for the sub to sail beneath the waves. The scheduled dive was a crucial, long-awaited test for the new-to-Canada ship. The weather was getting worse, and they were fast approaching the dive location, so [Commander Luc] Pelletier directed repairs to be conducted with the sub “wide open” to speed things along. That meant that both hatches in the tower were open, making it easier to pass tools through for repairs.”
A rogue wave flooded the tower, sending seawater into the boat. Crews got out bucket and the wet-vac to handle the non-emergency situation.
Sensors indicated an electrical problem and a damage control team assembled in the lunchroom. No one knew water from the tower was sloshing over the power supply.
Two hours later three copper cables weakened by low-level arcing popped loose and hit the metal floor. The heat of the arc was more than 8,000 degrees and turned the inch-thick steel floor into liquid, triggering a fireball, followed by smoke, sparks and toxic gas. Saunders was in the doorway and ran from the fire toward the designated station where he shared a mask with the commanding officer. He was handed his own mask but fell to the deck before getting it on. While everyone was busy handling the crisis he went unnoticed for 10 minutes.
The fire was out but the ship drifted at sea with no power or communication and no way to blow away the toxic smoke. \ �2005 FastenerNews.com