Skipper seeks immunity, sub maneuvers surface

USS Greenville Captain Scott Waddle

HONOLULU, Hawaii -- The commander of the U.S. Navy submarine that hit and sank a Japanese fishing vessel last month has asked for testimonial immunity when he appears before a Navy court of inquiry.

The attorney for Commander Scott Waddle, the USS Greeneville's captain, presented the request to Admiral Tom Fargo, commander of the Pacific Fleet. If Waddle's request is granted, his court of inquiry testimony could not be used against him in court martial proceedings, a Navy source told CNN.

Meanwhile, preliminary information taken from a tape containing sonar data from the USS Greenville showed that before striking the Ehime Maru, the sub passed the Japanese training ship, reversed course and made maneuvers that brought the two vessels within calamitous range.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) released its first detailed update on the sea tragedy, providing data on the final movements of the nuclear submarine and the training ship before their collision nine miles off Honolulu.

VIDEO CNN's Martin Savidge says 21-day search leaves 9 missing in wreck of Japanese fishing vessel and U.S. sub Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)    GALLERY See images of the sunken Ehime Maru    RESOURCES Text of Cmdr. Waddle's statement Key players in the USS Greeneville investigation Names of civilians on board the USS Greeneville during collision    IN-DEPTH Collision at sea  • Key facts  • Look inside the sub  • Sub-ship size comparison  • How a submarine works  • Description of ascent maneuver     MESSAGE BOARD Sub collision

The data revealed that the submerged Greeneville and the Ehime Maru were both heading south in ocean waters, virtually parallel to each other before the collision.

Nine people from the Japanese ship are missing after the February 9 collision, which occurred when the Greeneville performed an emergency ascent drill and hit the 190-foot training ship.

Waddle and two other officers on the sub have been ordered to appear before a court of inquiry, scheduled to begin Monday.

The Navy is considering Waddle's immunity request, the Navy source said.

Rescue to salvage

The U.S. Navy has changed its efforts from searching for the missing to salvaging the sunken Japanese ship.

The Navy reported this week that a private salvage firm will determine March 8 the feasibility of such an effort, and the Navy will make its own determination around March 12.

Families of the missing have asked the Navy to raise the 190-foot vessel from its resting place, 1,800 feet below the surface.

The Navy court of inquiry begins Monday at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, to look into still-troubling questions from the collision -- including whether 16 civilian visitors on the Greeneville prevented crew members from doing their jobs.

Two civilians were operating controls with crew members at two of the three stations used to perform the emergency ascent.

Senior officers named

Three of the Greeneville's senior officers have been named as subjects of the inquiry, which the Navy has stressed is a search for the truth and not a criminal prosecution.

Remote-operated vehicles aboard the C-Commando surveyed the sunken Ehime Maru

They are the Greeneville's commander, Cmdr. Scott Waddle; the ship's executive officer, Lt. Cmdr. Gerald Pfeifer; and the officer of the deck, Lt. Michael Coen.

Also expected to face tough scrutiny are an enlisted man who reportedly detected the Ehime Maru on sonar and failed to warn his superior officers, and Capt. Bob Brandhuber, the chief of staff for the Pacific Submarine Forces who was host of the civilian guests. Families of the students still missing are expected to attend the military hearing.

On Wednesday, the U.S. Navy's No. 2 officer visited the hometown of the dead, delivering a personal apology to weeping family members and classmates.

Adm. William J. Fallon reportedly told family members that the United States would do its best to raise the sunken trawler to try to recover the bodies of their loved ones.

Lingering questions

The collision has prompted U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to temporarily ban civilians from the controls of all military equipment until lingering questions about the Greeneville incident are resolved.

U.S. Navy officials visited victims' families and survivors of the sunken training ship

Some Japanese officials say the fact that teen-agers aboard the Ehime Maru were killed has been almost ignored by U.S. media and military reports.

"The image in Japan is like that of a school bus being run over by a tank," said Hiroko Hakoda, speaking for the Japanese Embassy in Washington. "That is not the image Americans have in their minds. It is not being portrayed that way here. There is resistance to that image here."

The Japanese Embassy wants the Ehime Maru to be referred to as a "high school training vessel." A note has been sent to the Navy.

CNN Correspondent Martin Savidge, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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February 23, 2001
Navy grants delay of sub court of inquiry
February 22, 2001
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February 21, 2001
Sources: Sub's sonar system detected Japanese vessel
February 20, 2001
Army bars civilians from planes, vehicles
February 20, 2001
Sub skipper refuses to talk to NTSB
February 19, 2001
Letter from the Mayor of Uwajima, Japan
February 19, 2001
Civilians: We were 'innocent bystanders' in sub accident
February 18, 2001
Japanese relatives view video of ship hit by sub
February 18, 2001
Civilians barred from sub controls during probe
February 16, 2001
First report on sub collision could come this week
February 15, 2001

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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