The Grounding
by David Barth
January 18, 2001
An unnamed boat was running slowly up the Thames River in a dense fog, returning to Electric Boat in Groton, Connecticut following a sea trial. The boat was using
its radar to navigate up the center channel, and the pit logs, six-foot long swords that measure speed through the water, were extended through the bottom of the hull.
The pit logs were normally retracted except when precise speed information was needed during maneuvering, as on this foggy day.
The captain was commanding from the top of the sail and the navigator was at the plotter, beside the radar set, below, inside the boat. Although the radar showed the
boat was approximately in the center of the channel, it couldn’t be confirmed visually in the thick fog. Submarines sit low in the water, and this one required a depth of
more than thirty feet to keep clear of the bottom.
Suddenly, the boat shuddered and stopped, having run aground on a sand bar in the river. The navigator looked up from his plot with a startled expression. There was
silence they sat there, aground. Then the calm voice of the captain came over the communications system, "Back full." The large propeller began turning the opposite
direction, foaming the water behind the boat as it struggled to pull the boat off the sand bar.
The sub slowly backed away, changed course slightly, and continued to the shipyard. Since it had already been scheduled to be put into the dry dock, the shipyard
added the replacement of the two pit logs to the maintenance list.