aMI M I I . .. • • M••a I I I I = • WIN - .•=l 01.0M1 UM=IMI =NMI •••=.• MIIII =MEM MiNN PO.•••••m 1111 \ a Mli /////1/ M.M.. iimimi r. 411=1111 COLLEGIAN 100 YEARS AprillBB7•April 1987 Soviet crew abandons sinking submarine By.NORMAN BLACK AP Military Writer WASHINGTON, D.C. A nuclear-pow ered, nuclear-armed Soviet submarine, ap parently doomed from the moment it experienced a fire and explosion Friday morning, sank and was abandoned by its crew early yesterday in the western Atlantic Ocean. The Soviet news agency Tass said no lives were lost when the so-called Yankee-class submarine went down around 4 a.m. EDT, and the Pentagon said it had no reason to doubt that statement. The vessel sank in waters 18,000 feet deep about 1,060 nautical miles to the east of Cape Hatteras, N.C., or roughly 600 miles east of the island of Bermuda. A Soviet merchant ship, Bich earlier had been attempting to tow the vessel, collected survivors and re mained in the area yesterday, the Pentagon said. Two ranking U.S, military officers said the sinking posed no threat to the environment, even though the submarine was powered by two nuclear reactors and carried up to 16 nuclear-tipped, SS-N-6 ballistic missiles. The warheads atop one of those missile could very well have been blown into the sea and sank when the submarine experienced a fire and' explosion while submerged on Fri day, said Vice Adm. Powell F. Carter Jr., the staff director for the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The other warheads have undoubtedly been crushed and rendered useless by the pressure of the ocean's depth, he said, adding that the fuel inside the reactors is encased in a heavy metal that will likely deterioriate only over thousands of years. Carter and Lt. Gen. Richard A. Burpee, the director of operations for the joint staff, said the sinking was observed on radar and inter ' 4 4 M i e ., :~:;.. Pedestrians By BRIAN HANNON Collegian Staff Writer University student Mark Goebel (sopho more-electrical engineering) yesterday called the structures at the intersection of Shortlidge and Pollock roads "very inconve nient, unnecessary, and out of the way." Other students echoed Goebel's remarks, questioning the structures' purpose and safe ty. The students were describing the multi-col ored, graffiti-sprayed pedestrian tunnels built under the University intersectior in the 1960 s to help walkers cross the'street during heavy traffic. The underpasses were built as part of a larger project, involving construction of utili ty tunnels below the surface of the road. At the time of construction, the underpasses were not part of the original utility-tunnel plan, but were later added when the Universi ty's Office of Physical Plant broke ground for the other tunnels. the daily mittently by the crew of a Navy P-3 recon naissance plane through the light provided by flares fired by the Russians at the scene. A U.S. ocean-going tug was also near the scene at the time about 48 nautical miles to the southwest and offered assistance. But it was told to remain clear, the two said. The two officers, while stressing that they couldn't say for sure, said it appeared the crew of the submarine never gained control of leaks caused by a fire and explosion Friday. That fire apparently began with the liquid-fuel propellant for one of the missiles and "the force of the (resulting) explosion was enormous," Carter said. "I would say the ship had a very severe shock when that explosion occurred," he continued. "Now to what extent it flooded or why it flooded . . . it must have been very slow, progressive flooding, because the ship was on the surface for roughly three days before it sank." "The ship that was towing it was a Soviet merchant ship which is clearly not designed for a towing operation . ." added Burpee. "So they stopped the towing at about 12:20 a.m. (EDT) and about 1:30 our P-3 notified us that the sub was getting lower in the water. "Obviously it was starting to fill with water, and then about 3:30, we had a notice from the airplane that the life boats were out and survivors were coming out of the sub and being transferred in life boats. And then at 4 o'clock the submarine sank," Burpee said. Carter speculated that the initial explosion, which ripped apart one of the heavy metal hatches over a missile tube, also damaged the hull below the waterline or ripped apart interior, sea-water piping systems. "These liquid-fuel systems are very, very dangerous," said Carter, noting that U.S. submarines rely on solid-fuel ballistic rock ets. A lone Individual strolls the graffltti•filled underground passages at the intersection of Shortlidge and Pollock roads don't dig tunnels at intersections Construction lasted from 1965 until 1967. The total utility project including building of the underpasses cost $869,000. Although the underpasses are rarely used, Thomas Harmon, assistant director of police services, said his department continues to encourage people to use the tunnels during peak traffic periods at the intersection. Even so, Harmon said pedestrian traffic in the tunnels has not really changed since he's been at the University. "There are only a couple times a day that traffic is really that heavy at that intersec tion," he said. "Our officers would appreciate it if more people would use the tunnels at these busy hours, but most people feel more comfortable waiting for a break in the traf fic." H.O. Triebold, assistant director of environ mental health and safety, said "the underpass probably came about when we expressed concern over pedestrian traffic at certain points on campus." Triebold said his depart ment was not involved in the planning of the Coll-gian Tass briefly confirms reports of sinking By The Associated Press MOSCOW Tass reported in a three-par agraph dispatch that a nuclear-powered Sovi et submarine sank to a great depth in the Atlantic yesterday, three days after a dev astating fire killed three of its crew. The official news agency said nearby Sovi et ships rescued the rest of the crew without further loss of life. The Soviet public learned of the sinking when the Tass report was read word for word, without further detail, on the national evening television news. There were no eve ning newspapers yesterday because of a four day holiday weekend to celebrate Constitu tion Day. . - snow A Soviet nuclear•powered Yankee•class submarine sank in the western Atlantic Ocean yesterday, alter a fire killed three crew members project. However, he said it was informed that the tunnels were going to be installed. Triebold said he wished his department had been consulted in the planning because it recognized that the underpasses would get only limited use. In that era, his department was not part of the planning, review and designing of the construction of the Universi ty, Triebold said. "It is a difficult intersection, for police have to worry about a large flow ' of both pedestri ans and automobiles. The designers obviously thought the underpass would help the situa tion," Triebold said. Ardath Johnson, head of customer relations for Physical Plant, said the underpasses were constructed to give pedestrians an alternative route in crossing the street. Johnson de scribed the Shortlidge-Pollock intersection as "a bad corner." Johnson and Triebold said the passageways are chained closed during the winter months because of the heavy expense and the difficul ty in maintaining the tunnels. • .','„;l4,'!- l AO • • • '" - • •'" •• - -.4# • 'V,- Nv. ••• • " • • • .• . ANN . ' •,• . „ Tass said the nuclear reactor powering the vessel was shut down and that specialists determined no danger existed of a nuclear blast or radioactive contamination. U.S. officials have identified the vessel as a Yankee-class submarine capable of carrying 16 nuclear-tipped missiles, and reported ear lier yesterday that the submarine sank in 18,- 000 feet of water 1,040 nautical miles east of North Carolina. U.S. officials have said the craft almost certainly was carrying atomic weapons. Tass gave no location for the vessel when it sank, nor did it confirm reports from Penta gon sources that the submarine sank after being taken under tow east of Bermuda by a Soviet merchant ship. Johnson said that in the 1960 s an art profes sor had his class work in the underpass but they stopped because of the grafitti that was being sprayed on top of the paintings. Students walking by the underpasses made a variety of comments about the structures. Andrea Reich (sophomore-anthropology) said, "I've never used them except for my first day here." She added that it is quicker to walk across the street than to use the tunnels. "It's a waste of time to walk up and down all those steps, when you could just walk across the street," said Dan Ferretti (freshman-in dustrial engineering). Kirstin Boyer (senior-animal production) said she has never used the underground passageways and questions how safe they are at night. Robert McNichol, supervisor of University Police Services, said that to his knowledge there has never been a crime reported in the tunnels other than criminal mischief. Tuesday, Oct. 7, 1986 Vol. 87, No. 60 12 pages University Park, Pa. 16802 Published by students of The Pennsylvania State University ©1986 Collegian Inc. In its second report in 98 hours on the accident, Tass said the submarine went down at 11:03 a.m. Moscow time (4:03 a.m. EDT). On Saturday, it announced that fire had broken out aboard the sub the day before, and reported three deaths. Although Saturday's and yesterday's three paragraph reports lacked important detail, they represented an unusual lifting of the secrecy normally cloaking the Soviet mili tary. The Kremlin has been quicker and relative ly open about reporting domestic disasters since drawing world criticism for keeping silent for almost three days about the April 26 disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear power Temple profs strike By MELANIE BURNEY Associated Press Writer PHILADELPHIA About half of Temple University's classes met as scheduled yesterday despite a vow by striking professors to turn the north Philadelphia , campus into a ghost town:, university officials said. About 1,100 professors, librarians and other academic professionals struck over wages at 12:01 a.m. yes terday in the first walkout in the university's 102-year history. Pickets went up in the morning. "Things have gone smoothly on campus with 53 percent of the classes being met at the north Philadelphia and Ambler campuses," said C. Rob ert Harrington, Temple's chief nego tiator. "The impact of the strike was not as great as the union felt it would and we anticipate more classes will be met Tuesday," Harrington said. School spokesman George Ingram Jr. acknowledged that graduate as sistants made up the bulk of the teachers reporting to class. Although he was unable to provide a specific figure, Ingram said "a number" of union members crossed picket lines. Ingram also was unable to estimate the number of students out of 22,000 who reported to classes. Almost 10,- 000 other students attend the schools of law, medicine and dentistry, which went unaffected by the strike. "You didn't have your normal com plement of students. But the campus was alive with students and staff," Ingram said. Philip Yannella, president of Temple's chapter of the American Association of University Professors, assessed the situation differently. Early yesterday, he asked students to support the strikers. • "They came and they saw the tea chers weren't there and they're leav ing," Yannella said. "The university doesn't run without us." The university will dock faculty members who fail to meet their classes, Harrington said. E 1 4-:1 0 1 0 . weather This afternoon, it will be hard to believe you're in State College, since you'll actually be seeing lots of sunshine and no rain. High near 60. Tonight, mostly clear. Low 42. Heidi Sofien AP Lasorpholo
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