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bobdina
08-19-2009, 11:19 AM
No fish story: Ballistic missile sub rescues mariners

By Philip Ewing - Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday Aug 18, 2009 17:00:10 EDT

Five Bahamian fishermen clinging to their capsized boat were rescued Aug. 11 by what could be the world’s least likely ship to render aid on the high seas — a U.S. ballistic missile submarine.

The ballistic missile sub Rhode Island was underway on the surface in the Atlantic Ocean when its crew spotted the overturned fishing vessel, according to a Navy announcement, and the boat’s Gold Crew commanding officer, Cmdr. Kevin Mooney, decided to turn around and investigate.

Sailors from the Rhode Island pulled four men and one 14-year-old boy off the boat and onto the submarine’s missile deck, where Senior Chief Hospital Corpsman (SS) John Renn treated them for dehydration. One of the men hurt his leg when the boat capsized, and Renn prepared the wound for more complete treatment at a shore hospital.

After the men were attended to aboard the Rhode Island, they were transferred to a Navy boat that took them to shore.

Lt. Rebecca Rebarich, a spokeswoman for Submarine Group 10, acknowledged it was highly unusual for a ballistic missile submarine — ships that usually operate invisibly, or behind a thick screen of security — to help mariners at sea. In June, Navy security teams confronted two fishermen off Key West when they got too close to the guided missile submarine Georgia, which was training nearby on the surface.

But Rebarich said Mooney felt obligated to help the Bahamian fishermen, who had been adrift on their upside-down boat for four days.

“They were in the right place at the right time, and the commanding officer felt it was proper to render assistance to a vessel in distress,” she said.

The rescued men joked with the Rhode Island’s crew that no one would believe the story of how they were rescued, according to the Navy’s announcement, but Mooney gave each one proof — a ship’s command coin.


http://www.navytimes.com/news/2009/08/navy_rhodeisland_rescue_081809w/

Reactor-Axe-Man
08-19-2009, 11:00 PM
Good on the Rhode Island for rendering assistance, but it begs the question:

What the hell were they doing on the surface?

Yono
08-20-2009, 04:22 AM
Well I am guessing they saw the boat from a periscope, and decided to head up.

Reactor-Axe-Man
08-21-2009, 11:57 PM
"The ballistic missile sub Rhode Island was underway on the surface "

SSBNs riding on the surface? Only when they enter or leave port. It's kinda the whole point of strategic deterrence to have no idea where the boomers are.

ghost
08-22-2009, 12:02 AM
Well that was very nice of the submarine crew. But I hope that the crew from the fishing boat thanked the submariners twice, because they just compromised their position and told the world where they were, by doing this.