Navy grants delay of sub court of inquiry

Cmdr. Scott Waddle was skipper of the USS Greeneville when it collided with a Japanese ship

In this story: Attorney reason for requested delay Pentagon: Civilian ban near Mori comments RELATED STORIES, SITES

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Navy has granted a continuance to attorneys for Cmdr. Scott Waddle so that his legal counsel will "have time to prepare" his defense, a Navy official told CNN.

The hearing, called a court of inquiry, is now slated to begin on March 5 rather than February 26, officials said. Waddle could face a court martial for his actions involving the February 9 collision of the USS Greeneville, a nuclear submarine, with a Japanese vessel. Nine people are missing and presumed dead from the accident.

A request for the delay in the start of the hearing came from attorneys for Waddle.

Attorney reason for requested delay

Lawyers for Cmdr. Scott Waddle wanted the court of inquiry, the Navy's highest form of administrative hearing, to be delayed until March 5 because Charles Gittins, the civilian attorney Waddle wants on his legal team, is currently working on another case.

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Gittins represented the Army's former top enlisted soldier, Sgt. Maj. Gene McKinney, in 1998 against allegations of sexual harassment. McKinney was acquitted by a military jury of all charges that he had engaged in sexual misconduct with six female accusers, but he was found guilty on lesser charges, involving obstruction of justice. He was forced into early retirement.

The court of inquiry will determine whether disciplinary action should be taken against Waddle and two other officers who were in charge of the submarine when it struck the Ehime Maru on February 9 off the coast of the Hawaiian island of Oahu. They could face a court martial.

Nine people remain missing and are presumed dead; 26 others survived.

Waddle has been reassigned and will appear before the court of inquiry. Lt. Cmdr. Gerald Pfeifer, and the officer of the deck, Lt. Junior Grade Michael Coen will also appear before the court.

The court will consist of three Navy officers, as well as a Japanese adviser, Rear Adm. Isamu Ozawa of the Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force.

Pentagon sources said Thursday the USS Greeneville was approximately 4,000 yards, or two nautical miles, away from the Ehime Maru, when the sub failed to detect the Japanese ship on its periscope search, citing a Navy analysis performed after the fatal accident.

Navy officials said the analysis is based on a reconstruction of events after the fact, not on what the submarine crew knew at the time. And Navy sources told CNN the Greeneville did a 180-degree turn below the surface just before doing its rapid ascent, which resulted in the Feb. 9 accident.

Navy officials theorized that the submarine may have been turning in an effort to put more distance between itself and any surface ships, and unknowingly turned toward the Ehime Maru.

The official said it's also possible that in turning, the submarine may have lost the sonar reading "in the baffles" of the submarines propeller.

And officials caution this still does not explain whether the submarine's sonar operator knew or should have known the location of the Ehime Maru before the accident.

Pentagon: Civilian ban near

In Washington Thursday, a Pentagon spokesman announced that an order would be signed soon by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld prohibiting civilians from taking controls of U.S. military equipment.

"All the services know that this is coming," said Rear Adm. Craig Quigley. "It should be signed in a day or two."

Sixteen civilians were on board the submarine at the time of the accident. Two were at key control stations when the submarine performed the emergency ascent maneuver and struck the Japanese vessel.

USS Greeneville sits in a dry-dock in Hawaii, where it is being examined and repaired

Though the civilians were closely supervised by trained crew members, and the Navy has insisted their presence did not contribute to the collision, one crew member cited the civilians as a distraction as he performed his duties, an National Transportation Safety Board investigator said. The NTSB is conducting a separate probe of the incident.

The ban on civilian participation, Quigley said, would remain in place while the Pentagon reviews its policies. The order would not prohibit the practice of allowing civilians on so-called ride-alongs on military ships or other vehicles, but would restrict their participation.

The Navy and Army had previously announced similar restrictions, but Rumsfeld's order would cover all branches of the military.

Mori comments

In Tokyo, Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori told reporters that if reports were true civilian guests disturbed the operations of a Greeneville crew member tracking sonar points, that it was "extremely regrettable."

In Honolulu, officials from the National Transportation Safety Board said they had completed their on-site phase of their investigation into the collision and were writing their field reports. They toured the exteriors of the Greeneville in dry dock Wednesday.

Investigators said they requested Thursday that Waddle give them his reasons, in writing, why he would not answer their questions until after the court of inquiry is held and to clarify when he will talk to them. Coen and Pfeifer also refused to answer NTSB questions, on the advice of their legal counsel.

NTSB officials said some of the civilians had cameras and video cameras with them on the sub, but when asked by investigators, they said they had no film or pictures from inside the craft.

As for the probe of the accident itself, NTSB investigators now have data, retrieved from an electronic logging device, which shows that the the USS Greeneville's passive sonar picked up the Ehime Maru at 12:32 p.m. Radar records show that the Ehime Maru sank at 1:43 p.m. after colliding with the submarine.

CNN National Correspondent Martin Savidge, Military Affairs Correspondent Jamie McIntyre and National Security Producer Chris Plante contributed to this report.

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U.S. Coast Guard
Japanese Prime Minister
City of Uwajima's memorial site
U.S. Navy
 • CINCPACFLT statement on the USS Greeneville incident
 • Commander Submarine Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet
 • USS Greeneville
National Transportation Safety Board

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