Hi ThiChi:
"Is your claim then “excessive incidents?”
No. I was making a point of humor with the fact that it is the ""same"" Sub involved in the same kind of accident within one year.
"Though no one wants these accidents to happen at all, human error will always be present."
True.
"I would like to see the “numbers” to formulate a point of reference. How many subs are out at a time? How many trips do these subs make? What is the ratio of accidents to non incidents?"
Contact the US Dept. of the Navy and see if they will release the data you desire. Many things the military does, in all branches, are normally classified.
"Is two collisions a lot compared to the number of missions/trips made in a year or years? How many nautical miles are covered every year? This information would help us to ascertain if we are dealing with incompetence or just human error based on the numbers."
True. I am sure the Navy, Air Force, and Army study every accident carefully to make important safety determinations. And, given all the exercises they each perform, I have no doubt that they do well.
"Also, the US seems to be more open with these reports. To what extent have other nation’s Sub accidents gone unreported?"
The Russians have recently become more open. Yes, the US is more open, and I wish we would reign in some of the things that get reported. Given that this is now the "Information Age" and people get cynical and suspect wrongdoing at every turn ... openness has become very popular.
A Parting thought: When I worked in San Francisco, I watched the USS Enterpirse (Nuclear Aircraft Carrier and Flag Ship of the 7th Fleet) from the top flood of our office building as it came into port. Shortly after it passed under the Oakland-Bay Bridge, it made a sharp left turn toward the Alameda Naval Station - and got stuck in the mud.
The incident was not the Captain's fault, as the Army Corp of Engineers had not dredged the narrow channel as it should have. The ship was doomed to hit a large sand bar. The Captain was forced to resign from the Navy, because in the Navy, everything is the Captain's responsibility. The reason that he got into so much trouble is that the incident was an embarassment to the Navy to have its most premier Flag Ship run into a sand bar. Pride is more important than realities of steering a ship through an undregded channel, or any other problem. If the military could go back to the days of secrecy, then the Captain might still be at the helm of the Enterprise with his stellar career intact.
