I don’t know if this has made the news in the rest of the US yet (or even if it will). I’ve heard bits on the TV and more from former EPA colleague who heard it from a Coast Guard guy.
Apparently, when Gen. Carlson made his ultimatum to the military forces in New England to back him, disarm, or leave, most of the Navy vessels in New England ports put to sea. There were a few destroyer exceptions (some up in Bath, ME on refits), but pretty much, we’re without a Navy (we still have our Coasties, God Bless ‘em). One of the ships (or in this case boat) that didn’t leave was the USS Alabama (SSBN 731). The Alabama is an Ohio-class ballistic missile nuclear submarine. She’d just been put in dry-dock at Electric Boat in Groton to be converted from a ballistic missile sub (SSBN) to a cruise-missile sub (SSGN). Apparently she still had her nuclear-tipped Trident missiles on-board.
According to the Coastie who related the story, the captain and crew of the Alabama wanted to get her the hell out of New England. The EB workers and managers said she wasn’t safe to sail. So on Tuesday night, a chunk of the crew broke into the EB dry-dock, re-floated their boat and headed out into the Thames River. Turns out, the EB mechanics knew what they were talking about. The boat started taking on water as soon as it hit the river and lost power before they cleared Fisher’s Island.
A couple of Coast Guard cutters from the Academy went out and helped some tugboats pull her back up-river. There was some ‘discussion’ between the Navy folks at the sub base, the Electric Boat people, and the Coasties. Admiral Burhoe (Superintendent of the Academy) had the boat tied-up at the Academy’s docks.
Apparently there is now a commission from the UN and EU meeting in New London to oversee the transfer of remaining nukes from New England territory to the US ‘mainland’ without anymore hijinks. The Europeans are understandably a little nervous about the threat of civil war in a country with 30,000 nuclear weapons (all except the Russians who must be loving this I imagine).
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Thursday, July 23, 2009 « Nothing is Just One Thing // July 23, 2008 at 3:43 pm |
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