Best Defense
Thomas E. Ricks' daily take on national security.

The curse of the Greeneville

Remember about eight years ago, when a nuclear submarine named the USS Greeneville shot to the surface underneath a Japanese fishing boat, killing 9 people in waters off Hawaii? It was a big deal at the time. The same sub lost another skipper later the same year when it ran aground off the coast of ...

By , a former contributing editor to Foreign Policy.
585130_090609_greeneville2.jpg
585130_090609_greeneville2.jpg

Remember about eight years ago, when a nuclear submarine named the USS Greeneville shot to the surface underneath a Japanese fishing boat, killing 9 people in waters off Hawaii? It was a big deal at the time. The same sub lost another skipper later the same year when it ran aground off the coast of the western Pacific island of Saipan, causing $120,000 in damage. Then, early in 2002, it collided with another Navy ship off the coast of Oman.

The jinx continues: Two sailors assigned to the boat allegedly severely beat the former chairman of the town council in Kittery, M.E., and left him for dead on May 22.

U.S. Navy/Newsmakers via Getty Images

Thomas E. Ricks is a former contributing editor to Foreign Policy. Twitter: @tomricks1

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