Ehime Maru and USS Greeneville
collision
Ehime Maru and USS Greeneville collision
The Japanese high-school fishing training ship Ehime
Maru
Date:
February 9, 2001
Place:
off Oahu, Hawaii, USA
Cause:
Ship collision
Result: Ehime Maru sunk,
9 Ehime Maru crewmembers killed
(including 4 high school students);
USS Greeneville damaged
The Ehime Maru and USS Greeneville
collision was a ship collision between the
United States Navy (USN) submarine USS
Greeneville (SSN-772) and the Japanese fish-
ing training ship Ehime Maru (????) on 9
February 2001,
about 9 nautical miles
(17 km) off the south coast of Oahu, Hawaii,
USA. In a demonstration for some civilian vis-
itors, Greeneville performed an emergency
surfacing maneuver. As the submarine sur-
faced, it struck Ehime Maru, a high school
fishing training ship from Ehime Prefecture,
Japan. Within minutes of the collision, Ehime
Maru sank. Nine of its crewmembers were
killed, including four high school students.
Many Japanese, including government offi-
cials, were concerned over news that civil-
ians were present in Greeneville’s control
room at the time of the accident. Some ex-
pressed anger because of a perception that
the submarine did not try to assist Ehime
Maru’s survivors and that the submarine’s
captain, Commander Scott Waddle, did not
apologize immediately afterwards. The Navy
conducted a public court of inquiry, placed
blame on Waddle and other members of
Greeneville’s crew, and dealt nonjudicial pun-
ishment or administrative disciplinary action
to the captain and some crew members.
In response to requests from the families
of Ehime Maru’s victims and the government
of Japan, the USN raised Ehime Maru from
the ocean floor in October 2001 and moved it
to shallow water near Oahu. Once there,
Navy and Japanese divers located and re-
trieved the remains of eight of the nine vic-
tims from the wreck. Ehime Maru was then
moved back out to sea and scuttled in deep
water. The Navy compensated the govern-
ment of Ehime Prefecture, Ehime Maru’s sur-
vivors, and victims’