- "I am now convinced that Ehime Maru was not just
observing (spying) but actively sub-chasing."
-
- By Robert D. Morningstar Morningstar Aerospace
-
-
- The primary question for investigators is "What
was the Ehime Maru, one of the world's most advanced (and 'stealthy")
high tech fishing vessels, doing in a U.S. military operations area warning
zone?
-
- Many Questions To Be Answered
-
- The tragic events which occurred off Hawaii on February
9th, 2001, involving a collision between the attack submarine, U.S.S. Greenville,
and a Japanese fishing vessel, the Ehime Maru, are a signal event in U.S.-Japanese
relations. Although the media has already leaped to a foregone conclusion
of criminal negligence on the part of the captain, crew and passengers
of the U.S.S. Greenville, many questions remain regarding the sinking of
the Ehime Maru.
-
- The primary question for this investigator is "What
was the Ehime Maru, one of the world's most advanced (and 'stealthy")
high tech fishing vessels, doing in a U.S. military operations area warning
zone bearing down at top speed on a submerged U.S. Navy attack sub?"
-
- Piranha Attack By Media
-
- The piranha-like attack of the press and news media on
the captain, Commander Scott Waddle, the crew of the U.S.S. Greenville,
and a group of civilians aboard the sub, members of the U.S.S. Missouri
Memorial Association, was so vicious, slanted and one-sided that I felt
compelled to communicate my concerns about fairness and due process to
the National Transportation Board. I brought to the attention of the NTSB
important information regarding the Ehime Maru.
-
-
- Original Message
-
- From: Robert D Morningstar To: (name withheld) @ntsb
gov Sent: Wednesday, February 14, 2001 Subject: Submarine-Fishing Boat
Collision
-
- Dear Sir:
-
- I'm writing in regard to the recent accident which occurred
off Hawaii recently and which is the subject of a current NTSB investigation.
I really hate it when the Navy makes a captain swing in the wind to save
face in international politics.
-
- On behalf of Commander Waddle getting a "fair shake",
I would like to point out that the Japanese government often disguises
spying operations and R operations as "fishing explorations"
or student projects. The development of stealth technology at sea is not
unheard of in our day and age. The fishing vessel could very easily have
been "stalking" the submarine. Was it really correct for the
Japanese fishing vessel, an advanced oceanic laboratory, to be operating
in a U.S. Navy military operations area warning zone?
-
- However, the major point I am going to make is in regard
to the type of propeller on the fishing vessel. If this propeller was milled
using an advanced propeller milling technology, which our country shared
with the Japanese in the 1980's, it is possible that the frequency produced
by such a propeller could be stealthily quiet. Furthermore, if its frequency
was a harmonic of that of the submarine's screw, its frequency could have
been cancelled out by the frequency of the submarine's propeller resonating
through the sea at harmonic levels. It is possible that the Japanese were
testing an undersea noise-canceling technology similar to those we have
in aviation headsets. The sound of the screws of the sub and the fishing
vessel could have been made to cancel each other out.
-
- Another distinct possibility exists, i.e., that the fishing
vessel had turned off its engines to listen for the submarine (or whales)
and was in fact tracking it but not expecting it to breach suddenly through
the surface as it did. (Author's note: this can now be ruled out as it
is known that the Ehime Maru was moving at nearly top speed when she struck
the submarine.)
-
- All these avenues should be investigated before condemning
the captain of the USS Greenville, Commander Scott Waddle.
-
- Sincerely, Robert Morningstar
-
- P.S. During the 1980's, we developed and shared an advanced
CAD/CAM propeller milling technology with Japan which made our submarines
super-quiet and which could not be easily heard by the Russians. Law prohibited
its transfer to Eastern Block nations. The Russian's propellers were loud,
clunky things, which we could hear from the East Coast coming through Gibraltar
easily. In 1987, Toshiba Corporation illegally transferred this technology
to USSR by way of a Norwegian intermediary. Since then I have avoided doing
any business with or using Toshiba products, computers or otherwise."
-
- Friends And Patriots
-
- After posting a copy to a friend in Louisville, Kentucky,
I was surprised to receive his response requesting permission to post the
letter more widely. I agreed and posted the letter to AFPN (American Friends
and Patriots Network) and other organizations. The response was heartening,
encouraging me to pursue the investigation further. Many Navy supporters
(and some critics) bombarded me with questions and comments. Many of them
were very cogent and insightful. One of the most interesting came from
a retired Navy officer, who wrote:
-
-
- "Robert, This morning's Newark Star Ledger showed
the damage to sub. It was a large dent, portside, approximately amidships,
around her waterline. She was obviously hit by the trawler, not vice-versa.
Let's raise the trawler to see if she had a standard fisherman's prop,
and see if she sustained bow damage from the collision.
-
- (Name withheld on request)
-
- This intriguing observation drew my attention to the
actual damage suffered by each ship. My question remained: "What was
the Ehime Maru doing 2 miles into a 4-mile wide U.S. Navy military operations
area warning zone?" An e-mail correspondence began between this officer
and myself. In a series of e-mail exchanges we pursued the details and
discussed the damage seen in videos released by CNN.
-
- Suspicions Confirmed
-
- The many friends and patriots who responded to my letter
to the NTSB regarding the collision between the USS Greenville and the
Ehime Maru will be interested to know that we have confirmed my original
suspicions regarding the propulsion system of the Ehime Maru.
-
-
- Unique Scrapes and Scars
-
- One of the most intriguing clues to the accident was
to be seen in the unique scrapes, score marks and jagged metal we observed
on the hull of the USS Greenville just behind the sail or conning tower.
-
-
- The pattern indicated that the Ehime Maru had struck
the submarine amidships, with her keel skating along the hull of the sub,
and leaving two sets of unique marks. One was a straight linear scrape
scored deeply into the metal of the submarine indicating where the keel
had cut a groove much like an ice skate. The other was an intriguing. A
strange arching, parabolic mark circumscribed the linear scrape. We could
not at first explain the origin of the remarkable parabola. My colleague
thought it might have been caused by propellers, I thought it might have
been that that Ehime Maru skated on her keel onto the submarine then rolled
on her left port bow. I theorized that in sliding off the rising submarine
the hull of Ehime Maru had caused the parabolic scrape to the hull. Neither
explanation was satisfactory. Only later did I realize another possible
explanation for these unique marks.
-
- Ehime Maru, launched in 1996, possessed one of the most
advanced propulsion systems on earth. In addition to props and rudders
which could be configured to many varieties and combinations of prop pitch
and rudder angles, Ehime Maru also had "bow thrusters", which
gave her near "standstill" capability coupled by her computerized
fiber optic network to her GPS (Global Positioning System).
-
- Ehime's Amazing Maneuverability
-
- Ehime Maru had amazing maneuverability. But the most
interesting thing I have discovered is that the Ehime Maru may have had
a secret hydrofoil capability (see Emilio Largo's "Disco Volante"
in James Bond's "Thunderball").
-
- The reader may recall that in the 007 film the yacht,
"Disco Volante", was camouflaged inside a cocoon which hid her
hydrofoil. My analysis of the US Navy video shows a structure under the
stern of Ehime Maru on which she came to rest. The stern of Ehime Maru
is not touching bottom. This supporting structure bears a remarkable
resemblance to a hydrofoil support system or, possibly, a "winged
rudder" with props attached. This writer had the opportunity to ride
in large, Russian-made hydrofoils from the Adriatic islands to Split, on
the coast of Yugoslavia in 1972 so I am familiar with their construction,
positions and appearance.
-
- Is The Ehime A Hydrofoil?
-
- If Ehime Maru were equipped with hydrofoils, the impact
and violent collapse of a hydrofoil would explain the strange elliptical
mark on the hull of the USS Greenville. It also explains how the Ehime
Maru was able to leave the clean, linear scrape of the keel on the submarine's
hull.
-
- I am now convinced that Ehime Maru was not just observing
(spying) but actively "sub chasing". In which case, it would
have made no difference at all when or where the USS Greenville surfaced,
the Ehime Maru would have been over or near the sub wherever Captain Scott
Waddle and his crew chose to surface. Ironically, in the waters around
Pearl Harbor, the fatal error may have been due to the element of surprise.
No one on the Ehime Maru could have predicted or expected the sub to surface
so rapidly. Possessing the world's most advanced sonar and electronic fishing
gear, designed to track large and small schools of fish, Ehime Maru was
most certainly able to track something so unique and fleet as a Los Angeles
class attack submarine which is much bigger than a school of tuna. Instead
of avoiding the submerged ship's track, Ehime Maru converged and crossed
it at high speed. Could the captain of the Ehime Maru have confused the
USS Greenville for a school of tuna (or were they after dolphins)?
-
-
- Other mysteries remain. Why was it that Captain Waddle
could neither see Ehime Maru visually nor pick up a radar signal with the
periscope radar? Furthermore, the sonar signature picked up 71 minutes
before the collision was so small that the sonar man originally believed
it was a small boat. The Washington Times, quoting an anonymous source
reported on February 21st: "The sonar's "signal-to-noise ratio"
suggested the profile of a coastal fishing boat too small to be operating
nine miles off the Hawaiian coast, said the source close to the Navy's
ongoing investigation. The ratio is a measure of how much signal is discernible
against a background of other ocean noises." (Author's emphasis)
-
- An article in the New York Times reporting the accident
on February 10th noted:
-
- "When conducting drills in which the crew practices
surfacing rapidly, officers are told to make sure the area is clear, and
then to submerge and resurface within a short enough time so that no surface
ship would be able to wander into the exercise zone... An emergency drill
would ordinarily take only a few minutes, from a depth of perhaps 100 feet,
a Navy official said. In that time, only a very fast craft could wander
into a zone that had been found to be clear, and even that would be unlikely."
(Author's emphasis)
-
- Stealth Capability Of The Ehime Maru These details suggest
to me that Ehime Maru had stealth capability and could disguise both her
radar image and sonar signal to confuse technicians on other ships.
-
- Why would a "fishing boat" need to do that?
_____
-
-
- Comment
-
- This analysis was written on behalf of Captain Scott
Waddle and in support of the crew and passengers aboard USS Greenville,
all of who had the duty and the right to be there.
-
- The Author
-
- Robert D. Morningstar is a computer systems and imaging
specialist living in New York City. He graduated from Power Memorial Academy
(1967) and received degree in psychology from Fordham University ('74).
Morningstar is also a private pilot and a FAA licensed Instrument Ground
Instructor (IGI). In 1999, RDM was elected to The U.S. Naval Institute
and to The Navy League of the United States in 2000. His biography has
been listed in "Who's Who in the East" since 1990.
-
- The analysis displayed above does not necessarily represent
the position of The Palmer Press
-
- This page may be reproduced. Use of this article should
credit Robert D. Morningstar and note The Palmer Press.
-
- Return to Palmer's Welcome Page http://www.xanalys.com/intelligence_tools
-
-
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-
- _____ Steven L. Waterman P.O. Box 188 South Thomaston,
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