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Sailors Fight Unsafe Nuclear Submarine

By VVAW

Why work on unsafe submarines? That was the question raised by the crewmen of the USS Haddock, a nuclear submarine homeported at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Faced with unbelievably dangerous working conditions, little or no time off, and an average 80 hour work week, crewmen of the Haddock stood up to the Navy and won a victory important to sailors and GIs everywhere.

Beginning in late October, sailors of the Haddock who were also members of VRB or Out--Hawaii ( an organization of sailors fighting for the re-enlistment bonus the Navy refuses to pay) stated speaking out about the conditions aboard the sub. With the support of the VRB group and VVAW, more and more sailors and their wives began coming forth around the struggle. The sailors kept saying they couldn't understand why they had let these conditions continue for so long (three years). During the discussions of the sub, the sailors would frequently joke about the dangerous conditions aboard the sub, then minutes of silence would follow when the seriousness of what they were saying would sink in. In more emotional minutes wives of the crewmen spoke of how it feels to never know if their husbands would return from sea and how the sailors would pysch themselves up and be brave men and go to sea.

Through these and other discussions, the crewmen of the Haddock began to demand that the Haddock should not sail on November 6th under these unsafe conditions. There were major material discrepancies which made the boat unsafe for the crew; problems that would result in the death of the entire crew by radioactive contamination, drowning, suffocation and asphyxiation from just seven of the listed malfunctions. Of course, the Navy's position was and is that its nuclear subs are the safest vessels in the water. The experience of the crewmen of the Haddock and other nuclear subs proves this to be a flat-out lie.

Submarines, unlike surface ships, deteriorate quickly due to the operating conditions involved. The Navy does not provide adequate maintenance periods or funds to combat the problem of degenerating equipment. Instead, it spends its money on more and more weapons and new "improved" ships and submarines. For example, the Eisenhower and the Carl Vinson, two giant nuclear carriers like the USS Nimitz, are being built to join the fleet by the end of the decade. They are costing $1 billion each! Meanwhile, the Navy lets the safety of the crews. Big business pulls the profits while the Navy deems the crews expandable.

As the unity and organizing on the Haddock increased, the crewmen and their wives kicked of their "offensive" by filling redress of the grievance and article 138s against the conditions and the commanding officer at the sub. These actions are two of the limited ways the enlisted personnel can bring charges against their officers under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, (UCMJ).

They also began a leafleting campaign at the main gate of Pearl Harbor and the circulation of the redress petition aboard the Haddock to demand in not sail on November 6th without needed repairs. The petition drew wide support among the crewman, including a few career seamen.

Under pressure the Commanding Officer of the Haddock gave in and granted the seamen an open hearing, calling a request mast on the subject of the sub's status. Commander Keith Garland paced and chain-smoked his way through the two rights denying that major safety problems existed. When confronted with concrete examples he rationalized the sub's condition by saying that no submarines 100% safe, and being a crew member of any sub requires some risk. Garland stated the meeting was unproductive, as he dodged the primary issue of the lives and safety of the crew. Many among the crew were less then satisfied with the meeting for other reasons, remembering past break-downs at sea and the disasters of the USS Thresher (sister ship of the Haddock) and the USS Scorpion, both of which sank at sea losing their entire crews due to malfunctioning equipment.

The following day, at 6:30 AM, the angry crewmen, wives, and supporters, began leafleting and picketing the Makalapa Gate at Pearl Harbor again, carrying signs like: Safety Test Before Sea Test, Remember the Thresher and Your First Line of Defense is Sinking, They were met with heavy police imitation from the Naval and Honolulu police. Refusing to be intimidated, the sailors were next confronted with a few "lifers" from the sub. The career Navy people, some of whom had agreed with the demands and signed petitions, tried to calm the sailors down and get them to go aboard the sub to "talk with the commander." To this the sailors replied, "We ha our talk yesterday and we're not satisfied with the results."

Later the same morning the sailors went aboard for their assigned duty time. Upon arrival they were confronted by the Commanding Officer, Commander Garland, angry and visibly shaking. Dropping all pretense of concern over their demands he threatened them first with legal action against demonstrating and then with possible charges under breach of security regulations. Still the sailors refused to back off from their demands.

As the struggle aboard the sub continued, the supporters began notifying the Honolulu media of the struggle. In the midst of his threats, the CO was called away to the telephone; he was questioned by the top Navy brass and the media. When Garland returned, he had once again reverted to his "nice guy: approach. The struggling crew members began to sense a shift in the struggle toward their favor. In a final effort to destroy their unity, the CO took each sailor, one at a time, into his office for a pre-determined period of five minutes to calm them individually. Remaining firmly unified, each sailor took an average of 25 minutes to re-emphasize each of the demands as the CO sat by smiling, agreeing, and answering the phone calls from the higher-up brass, assuring them that everything was under control.

By five that afternoon, radio, TV and the newspaper had spread the news of the struggle over all of Hawaii. With growing support for the sailor's struggle, the Navy had to move and move fast. Repairs began almost immediately, new crewmen were assigned to overworked groups, and the day off after duty was reinstated for sailors. The crew of the USS Haddock had won; the Navy had met their demands.

While overcome with joy, many of the sailors who participated in the struggle aboard the Haddock still have doubts as to whether the system works. They feel that in order to insure this victory and future struggles, they must retain that unity which brought about this victory or the Navy will once again force them into situations that threaten the lives and well being of the crewmen and others.

Conditions aboard the USS Haddock are in many ways no different than on other subs and ships in the Navy. Unsafe and inadequate living and working conditions are common throughout all branches of the US military. As veterans, we in VVAW understand and unite with the struggle aboard the Haddock since we have lived with and fought against these and similar conditions in the past. We also unite fully with a statement in a VRB or Out leaflet that read, "We will continue to fight--not in a war to protect the rich--but for all of us..."

All too often the American people receive little or no information on the struggle of GIs and sailors, but hear only of the large incidents such as the collision of the aircraft carrier USS Kennedy and the missile cruiser USS Belknap in the Mediterranean. Struggles such as that board the Haddock will become harder and harder to hide as GIs and sailors everywhere resist the daily military oppression. The fight on the Haddock serves as a great example to struggling GIs everywhere that unity in the face of seemingly overwhelming odds can indeed bring victories.